By Gurdip Thandi,Jayne Thomson,Local Democracy Reporter

Copyright birminghammail

Fresh proposals to help improve safety on the West Midlands public transport system have been revealed. The West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership has unveiled a new three-year strategy aimed at cutting crime and antisocial behaviour throughout the region’s public transport network whilst ensuring passengers feel more secure. Major new measures include overhauling design standards for bus shelters, tram stops and bus stations in a bid to put the ‘safety of women and girls travelling solo first’. Read more: ‘Impeccable’ Brazilian restaurant with ‘unlimited’ food to open in Touchwood Solihull This encompasses ensuring areas receive proper lighting, promoting public help points featuring video connections to female control room operators, plus additional training for public transport network staff. The Partnership will also tap into cutting-edge technology, including AI analysis, to help spot antisocial hotspots and patterns to both identify and prevent problems. Statistics reveal women depend on public transport more heavily than men, completing 30 per cent more journeys. West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker joined safety officers on patrol to witness how passengers were protected across the network. He commented: “I want to make journeys easier, more affordable and crucially safer for everyone – especially women and girls. “This new strategy shows exactly how we’re working with the police and our transport partners to make that a reality. We know people can feel less safe at night, so we’re taking action to reassure them. “That means looking at how we design stations, stops, and shelters and how we deploy our transport safety officers. While incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour are rare, we have a dedicated team working around the clock to keep people safe.” West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, chimed in: “Making our public transport network, safer for women and girls is a top priority. “By combining better design, new technology and dedicated officers, we are tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, while ensuring passengers feel safe and confident whenever they travel.” A survey of public transport users revealed a stark contrast in perceptions of safety between travelling during daylight hours and at night. People also felt trains were safer than trams or buses and waiting at bus stops was a leading concern. Insp Ivan Merc, police manager for the West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership, commented: “The use of public transport remains an incredibly safe way to travel and alongside our flagship Project Empower, which encourages the reporting of unwanted sexual behaviour on the transport network, the release of the strategy will enable us to continue to work closely with our partners to make travel safe for all.” Supt Sue Peters, of British Transport Police, added: “The West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership is vital in addressing violence against women and girls on public transport in the West Midlands. “By bringing together key stakeholders and partners from the region to plan joint working to tackle this, we can make the transport network safer for everyone. “BTP will not tolerate sexual harassment and sexual offences. Tackling violence and intimidation against women and girls is a key priority for the force. “We take all reports of unwanted sexual behaviour seriously and would encourage the public and passengers to save our text number 61016, so they can discreetly report incidents to us.”