Respect for Transport

Dark, unlit bus stops, smashed glass on the pavement and then worrying about those scary trouble-makers making all that noise in the back seat…

Sound familiar? For too long, public transport use in Nottingham suffered a reputation that travelling by bus or tram – especially at night – could have been a risky business.

While the actual chance that any law-abiding passenger would experience some kind of crime or anti-social behaviour was always very small, the fear of crime or yobbishness was enough to put some people off public transport. And it wasn’t only passengers who were affected by the issue; public transport staff too – bus drivers, for example – have the right to feel that they can go about their jobs without fear of verbal abuse, spitting or actual physical assault.

And this is where Respect for Transport (RfT) comes in. Launched in the summer of 2004, RfT is a campaign for improved public safety on Nottingham’s public transport network which has focused most strongly on NET trams and Nottingham City Transport bus services.

It’s not a talking shop. The campaign partners (see below) have put money and other resources behind a wide range of safety drives aimed at making public transport a crime-free and convenient travel option for the rest of us.
Perhaps the highest profile action has been the on-going series of ‘Gateway’ operations, where police and transport staff board buses and trams at unannounced locations to check for fare-dodgers, yobs, louts… or in fact anybody who is making life difficult for passengers and the public transport operators. Several arrests, fines and police checks have taken place as a result of these operations.

Backing these and other police operations, the RfT partners have put in place the city’s first transport beat manager, PC Derek Pickering, who was seconded from Nottinghamshire police and whose job is to co-ordinate all anti-crime efforts on buses and trams.

Another focus of the campaign has been the vigorous prosecution of offenders in court for incidents of vandalism and other crimes; in each case, RfT has ensured that these prosecutions received maximum exposure in the local media.
Yet another campaign success has been the installation of new lighting in bus shelters and the fitting of state-of-the-art CCTV on trams and buses. This has included around 80 school buses, which has led to a decrease in incidents of unruly behaviour on the school run. The school transport campaign has been accompanied by RfT’s backing for the annual local Safestart safe travel awards.

To sum up, the Respect for Transport campaign aims to make public transport in Nottingham crime-free for the benefit of passengers and staff – and with the hope that this will increase public transport use, so cutting traffic, congestion and pollution.

Respect for Transport is backed by Nottinghamshire police, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham City Transport, Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham Express Transit, JC Decaux, British Transport Police and Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership’s The Big Wheel.

1) Gateways

In truth, the idea of Gateway is not unique to Nottingham. Gateway checks have been carried out in the West Midlands for a few years, but with so much success that the Respect for Transport partners decided to attempt something similar in Nottingham.

Some of the first efforts in the Greater Nottingham conurbation were funded by the Home Office but later Gateways have been funded and organised within the city itself, boosted by the appointment on October 1 2005 of PC Derek Pickering as Nottingham’s first public transport beat manager.

The locations of each Gateway check are, for obvious reasons, never announced in advance. But operations always involve checks of bus or tram services by a team of police officers, transport inspectors and Police Community Support Officers.

Some times, the team seek to clamp down on specific known problems; these have included a suspected case of organised bus pass forgery. At other times, Gateways have focused on motorists who illegally drive in bus lanes. But, at all times, the police and inspectors are always on the look out for fare-dodgers and anti-social yobs and louts who can make life difficult for passengers and transport staff.

This seeks to weed out offenders, sending out a ‘zero tolerance’ message, while reassuring law-abiding passengers and transport staff that their safety is being taken seriously. By mid-August, ten Gateways had been held in 2006; more were planned.

2) Prosecutions

One of the benefits of Respect for Transport has been a closer working relationship between police, transport staff and local authorities. This has been reflected in the successful prosecution of vandals, thieves and other offenders who have committed crimes on or against public transport vehicles.

In May 2006, for example, a 24-year-old man from Rise Park was sentenced to a year in prison for causing £10,000 worth of damage to an NCT Nightrider bus after getting into a drunken fight with another passenger. The fight was captured by CCTV fitted to the bus, which helped police identify the offender.

Following other incidents, police and transport operators have successfully obtained Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), which have banned offenders from using specific transport services.

A third tool against offenders is the Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC), which is an informal agreement of future good behaviour signed by those who have committed relatively minor offences. Four ABCs were agreed within a month in 2006 by teenagers who had either caused damage to NCT buses or abused the driver.

3) School buses

Nobody wants to castigate school children. But, from a public transport operators’ point of view, not all school children behave like angels. And this is why Respect for Transport backs the annual Safemark safe travel scheme, which promotes safe and responsible travel by thousands of school children who travel on Nottinghamshire’s school buses.

Participating schools agree to draw up a ‘contract’ of good behaviour and in some cases have appointed pupil mentors who oversee behaviour on school bus journeys. In return, school good behaviour is recognized in an annual award ceremony, which was held at the Council House last year.

Meanwhile, digital CCTV cameras have been fitted to around 80 Nottinghamshire County Council school buses. These have cost £2,000 per single decker and £2,500 per double-decker, but have served to give schools, transport operators and parents clear objective evidence of poor behaviour such as vandalism or abuse of drivers. Incidents of such behaviour are reported to have dropped since the cameras were installed.

This year, Respect for Transport was also backing a national anti-bullying awareness campaign which involved a poster competition aimed at Year Seven and Eight pupils at four local schools.