Over half of young women report incidents on West Midlands busses that left them feeling unsafe
52% of young women aged 16-24 had reported ‘public transport safety incidents’ on buses in the year 2024/25
A new study by Transport for West Midlands has found that young women are feeling significantly less safe on the region's busses compared to two years ago.
The study, which was featured in the West Midlands Combined Authority's annual 'State of the Region' report, found over half of young women aged 16-24 had reported a "public transport safety incident" in the year 2024/25 - almost double the number from two years ago.
52% of young women aged 16-24 surveyed had reported feeling unsafe on buses in 2024/25 compared with 46% in 2023/24 and 27% the year before.
The study examined how safe passengers, with a focus on women, felt using the region's busses, trains and metro, the number of reported incidents and the time of day they may be feeling unsafe.
Among women of all ages, reported bus incidents also rose from 24% to 32% over the same period, while changes for rail and tram were more limited.
The report said: “Women, particularly young women aged 16-24, were most likely to feel unsafe when using the public transport network.
“On average, 37% of young women feeling unsafe at night compared to 23% of the whole sample."
It continued: “In 2024/25, 52% of those surveyed reported such an incident on a bus, a substantial increase from 27% in 2022/23.
“Among women of all ages, reported bus incidents also rose from 24% to 32% over the same period, while changes for rail and tram were more limited.
“Across all respondents, bus-related incidents increased from 22% to 29%, with rail and tram remaining comparatively stable.
“Overall, buses continue to account for the highest share of incidents, with the most pronounced increases observed among younger women.
“During the same period, there has also been a general rise in incident reporting among women—particularly younger women—partly reflecting increased confidence in reporting.”
"The stats are dissapointing"
We discussed the findings of the report with Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, who called them "disappointing".
He reaffirmed his commitment to improving the situation and making the region a safe place to be and move around for everyone, especially young women.
Mr Parker did highlight how crime rates on the region's buses are decreasing, however, while this is a positive, women are still feeling unsafe.
"We know that perception of safety has a massive impact and it has a big impact, particularly on young women," he said.
"And that's why we're continuing to work through the safer travel partnership to invest more in making public transport safer through more safety officers, particularly on the buses, through more use of CCTV and cameras, and we're doing more.
"But we also continue to engage with users of public transport to understand, you know, why and where they feel unsafe and what issues give rise to them feeling unsafe, because addressing the perceptions of this is really, really important.
"But let's also be clear, we also need to educate people, particularly men, to behaveNeil Elkes 2 minutes 27 seconds
differently and more responsibly and more respect with more respect when they're when they're using, whether it's, you know, buses, trains or even on metros."
Mr Parker said he wants to see "measurable improvements" by the next report and is hopeful that the franchising of the region's bus network will help better the situation by making it cleaner and safer.
He continued: "It is public transport that helps them get around the region, and if they don't feel confident or safe, they stop travelling, they stop using public transport, and that limits their ability to access opportunities, to acquire new skills, to get work and better paid work, so it is a really big issue."