Crime on and around the region's bus network plummeted by 28 per cent in 2007, figures released by the Safer Travel task force have revealed.

Every district in the West Midlands saw a drop in bus crime with Sandwell, Dudley, Solihull, Coventry and Walsall experiencing falls of at least 44 per cent.

Safer Travel is a partnership between Centro, West Midlands Police, Birmingham Community Safety Partnership and bus operator National Express West Midlands. It is the biggest project of its kind outside London and works to make bus travel even safer for passengers by deterring crime and anti-social behaviour.

The reduction shows how the team's operations and growing expertise since its launch three years ago are proving successful. The team's ever growing intelligence database was also helping to pinpoint crime hotspots and persistent offenders.

Sandwell and Solihull saw the biggest drop with 46 per cent, closely followed by Dudley (45 per cent); Coventry (45 per cent); Walsall (44 per cent); Birmingham (19 per cent) and Wolverhampton (15 per cent).

Operations involve a whole range of tactics including high visibility and undercover police patrols, the use of mobile CCTV cameras in police hats, deploying a specially trained drugs sniffer dog to check passengers and mounting covert surveillance at crime hot spots.

Since April 2007, the Safer Travel team has increased its collection of intelligence on anti-social behaviour and is now using this data to mount operations against offenders. The team has also been working with schools to raise awareness among pupils about personal safety and the effects of anti-social behaviour and crime.