The Safer Travel Partnership is made up of a number of agencies who work together to make the public transport network even safer for passengers by deterring crime and anti-social behaviour. Members of the partnership include Centro, West Midlands Police, British Transport Police, National Express West Midlands, London Midland and the region's seven Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships.

 

 

The Safer Travel Police Team is made up of Police Officers and PCSOs from West Midlands Police and is the biggest team of its type outside of London.

 

The team use a variety of tactics including targeted patrols based on intelligence, random checks such as Gateway operations and undercover patrols. The team utilise mobile CCTV cameras, body worn CCTV cameras, drugs sniffer dogs and safety arches to assist them.

The team also go into schools to teach children the importance of good behaviour on public transport.

This approach is proving highly successful. During 2007/8 the team achieved a 33 per cent drop in all crime on the bus network and this figure was reduced by a further 14 per cent during 2008/9. That means the Safer Travel team has cut crime by more than 41 per cent over the last two years. Reductions have been seen in all major crime types.

 

 

CCTV covers a large proportion of the network, with around 1000 cameras situated at Bus, Rail and Metro stations, as well as Park and Ride sites, Bus routes and in Bus Shelters.

See Something, Say Something provides the travelling public with a discreet way to report nuisance and anti-social behaviour on the bus network. This can be done via text message on 07624 818332 or via the website

www.safertravel.info where general safer travel advice can also be found. Information received is then used by the Safer Travel team to pinpoint any particular hotspots and take action

Safer Travel is important to Centro and its partners, and with crime continuing to fall, Centro is continuing to work hard to not only make travel even safer but for passengers to also feel safer.