Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour: review report

Transport

Antisocial behaviour on public transport impacts the safety, comfort and accessibility of transport for passengers and spans all age groups. Intoxicated misconduct and factors such as mental health and substance misuse were all identified as contributing factors to antisocial behaviour on public transport. In addition, low level incivility and social order since Covid-19 (for example, putting phone on loudspeaker) has a perceived increase, emphasising the need for a broader approach to managing and reducing antisocial incidents across age demographics and modes of transport.

Labels portraying young people as the main perpetrators of antisocial behaviour on public transport were consistently evident in our engagement around transport. In January 2022, the Scottish Government/Transport Scotland introduced the Under-22 Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme in Scotland. A hugely impactful scheme for young people and their families/carers focused on eradicating child poverty and encouraging long-term and sustainable behaviour change in relation to public transport patronage. Since the launch of the scheme, over 197 million journeys have been taken to date (end January 2025), opening opportunities around recreation, education and employment for young people. The free transport element is part of a wider national entitlement card promoting access to services including, but not limited to, [free] school meals, legal proof of age, and discounts/entitlements.

While the vast majority of young people behave appropriately when travelling by bus, media and operators have reported a rise in incidents of antisocial behaviour on the bus network since the introduction of the scheme - although the Working Group was not presented with data to quantify this. Most bus services in Scotland are operated on a commercial basis by private bus companies meaning that currently there is a lack of comparable and robust data to allow a comparison of antisocial behaviour incidents on buses before and after the introduction of the Under 22 Free Bus Scheme. The independent one-year evaluation of the scheme also noted that due to the lack of robust data spanning pre- and post-scheme implementation, it is not possible to say whether instances of antisocial behaviour had truly increased, decreased, or remained static since the introduction of the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme.

Recent survey data provided the Working Group with insight into passenger safety views, with respondents as part of the one-year evaluation of the young person’s scheme indicating that they felt safer on buses than any other mode of public transport during the day (76% felt safe on-board buses either always or often during the day). There had also been a slight increase in perceived safety using buses at night since the introduction of the scheme, as well as an 11 percentage point drop in the proportion who had experienced safety concerns at night, and a six percentage point drop in those who had experienced safety concerns when travelling alone. In addition, results from the first year of Transport Focus’ Your Bus Journey Survey, which was undertaken throughout 2023 across all six mainland Regional Transport Partnership areas in Scotland (Shetland is the seventh) published on 6 August 2024 - 5% of passengers overall say they felt worried or uncomfortable about other passengers’ behaviour on the bus, but this is higher, at eight percent, among younger passengers and amongst disabled people at 7%. 87% of people scored their personal safety as good or very good when travelling by bus. Only 2% scored this as poor or very poor.

Notwithstanding, a recent Unite survey of bus drivers across the UK found that 84% of drivers felt that the number of instances of abuse at work increased in the last 12 months. Employee safety and support is fundamental, both for the current workforce and for future employment sustainability for the sector. The Working Group has the greatest sympathy for bus drivers that experience antisocial behaviour from a small minority of bus passengers as everyone has the right to attend work safely and free from harm. The vast majority of passengers travelling by bus behave appropriately, including people of all ages using their free bus entitlement to travel, and none of this would be possible without bus drivers keeping communities connected.

As a working group, we have not been provided with data regarding the number of incidents to quantify or establish a direct link between the introduction of free bus entitlements for citizens and a rise in antisocial behaviour. Without such information, it is not possible for the group to support the withdrawal or restriction of a travel entitlement. The Working Group supports exploration of proportionate approaches - as adopted in other situations whereby incremental measures are applied such as verbal/written warnings and other sanctions - rather than immediate escalation to direct punitive measures such as entitlement removal that may have wider unintended consequences and that also may exacerbate issues elsewhere in communities.

Highlighting the “vital support” free bus travel gives young people, helping them to access education, employment and leisure, Nicola Killean, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland told the Guardian Newspaper, in November 2024, it was important that children “are not stereotyped based on the behaviour of a minority of individuals. When there is antisocial behaviour by adults, we don’t hear calls for all adults to be banned from public transport”.

The Working Group is also aware that bus operators can already restrict access to their services in line with their own conditions of carriage and that Transport Scotland is working with operators, unions and other stakeholders, to develop their own sanctions and preventative measures for people taking part in repeat antisocial behaviour using concessionary transport schemes. This includes the proposal for development of a new behaviour code for all passengers of all age groups, and a process for temporary suspension of concessionary travel products - again across all age groups - for those demonstrating repeat antisocial behaviour.

The Working Group raises significant concerns in relation to the execution of any scheme that results in the immediate suspension of the free bus entitlement. As a Scottish Government policy, and universal entitlement, focused on eradication of [child] poverty, climate just transition/behaviour change, and widening opportunities for citizens - especially in the current challenging fiscal environment - the enforcement of such an approach would have to be fair, appropriate and in line with other approaches where decisions are made in relation to, for example, a child/young person. This includes consideration of human rights and the UNCRC - a statutory obligation for public bodies and local authorities.

Consideration would also have to be taken into a person’s life circumstances, and the opportunity cost of restriction of bus travel. It would have to be consistently applied across the whole Concessionary Transport scheme and managed centrally by an appropriate body such as Police Scotland/Transport Police in partnership with Transport Scotland with very clear criteria, guidelines and escalation/reporting procedures, with robust data infrastructure to support evaluation and impact of such an approach. Taking a rights-based approach would again be essential as it may be open to misinterpretation by individual operators resulting in inequitable application. Taking a co-design approach to any measures would also be appropriate, building in citizen engagement as part of development, application and evaluation.

There is a wider recognition that tackling antisocial behaviour on public transport requires a focus on the root causes to deliver a comprehensive approach which aims to prevent such behaviour and supports people to work in partnership in communities. Transport Scotland is exploring both preventative options for action as well as what further deterrents or sanctions may be possible and appropriate where cases of antisocial behaviour occurs, including through working with bus operators and other key stakeholders. We understand that this includes working with the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) to support sharing best practice amongst operators and to ensure that the legal protections which allow bus drivers to refuse travel to passengers, who breach conditions of carriage setting out acceptable behaviour on the bus network, are well understood and communicated.

The Working Group is also aware of approaches across the UK that look to tackle antisocial behaviour on public transport and highlights that antisocial behaviour on public transport is also a persistent issue in areas that do not offer free concessionary transport. The UK Department for Transport is currently carrying out a trial involving the deployment of Transport Safety Officers in four local authorities supporting both preventative and situational response approaches in collaboration with bus operators. This will be monitored and evaluated. Data, if shared, may provide an insight into the effectiveness of additional on the ground support to tackle antisocial behaviour on buses and could be replicated in Scotland via a multi-agency approach - Transport Scotland, COSLA/Local Authorities and third sector - resource dependent.

Actions:

• To inform proportionate decision making, invest in robust and consistent data collection across Transport Providers to evaluate antisocial behaviour trends pre- and post-implementation of transport initiatives, for example, the Under-22 Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme.
• Encourage partnerships among Transport Scotland, bus and train operators, local authorities, and third sector organisations to share best practices and align on strategies for preventing and addressing antisocial behaviour.
• Explore models like the deployment of Transport Safety Officers or bus wardens to deter antisocial behaviour, provide on-ground support, and enhance passenger reassurance. Evaluate successful trials in other UK regions (e.g. Stoke-on-Trent and West Midlands) for potential replication in Scotland.
• Align measures addressing antisocial behaviour with broader government objectives, such as the climate just transition and child poverty eradication, ensuring sustainable, safe and equitable transport access for all.
• Ensure that the development of any schemes such as passenger behaviour codes and escalation procedures (e.g. warnings, temporary suspensions) for repeat incidents of antisocial behaviour across all age groups by Transport Governing bodies are co-designed with a wide range of stakeholders - including passengers of all ages - to ensure that solutions are rights-based, fair, and uniformly applied, with clear criteria and oversight by centralised establishments.

Case study - In summer 2024, Stoke-on-Trent deployed six bus wardens/safety officers within their network to primarily deter and prevent antisocial behaviour on buses, as well as to provide reassurance to the travelling public. Officers work in two groups across different shift patterns to cover routes throughout the day and night, with the authority to issue fines for issues such as littering and vandalism. This scheme followed the success in the Transport for West Midlands area in 2023 where they deployed Transport Safety Officers (TSOs) who worked in co-ordination with local police forces and the British Transport Police to deal with low-level disorder. As well as tackling antisocial behaviour, the approach was part of wider measures to tackle gender based violence against women and girls, dedicated to tackling incidents involving women’s safety, supporting women and girls to feel safer when travelling on public transport. Funding for these approaches have come from local Bus/Transport improvement plans.

In addition to addressing behavioural conduct on public transport, the issue of vandalism was also raised during our stakeholder consultation, including in relation to bus shelters and e-bikes. Tackling vandalism in e-bike schemes is crucial to ensure their sustainability and availability as a green transport option, supporting a just transition and behaviour change. Vandalism and theft driving up costs was cited as a contributing factor in the closure of Edinburgh’s bike share scheme in 2021, and has also prompted some schemes to increase deposits, making them less accessible to people on low incomes. The Working Group is not aware of any systematic collation of theft and vandalism data from across bike share schemes, or of any quantitative or qualitative research that examines theft and vandalism factors specific to bike share schemes. Anecdotally, people under 16 being generally ineligible for hiring the bikes has also been cited as a possible factor, but this has not been rigorously examined. There is no concerted action on this issue at present, but individual operators continue to work with the relevant authorities to investigate theft and vandalism where it occurs locally.