By Kieran Mackie, Managing Director of Amulet Security
In 2023, Transport for Greater Manchester’s (TfGM) local authority took its bus franchises back under control, the first city outside London to do so. The new Bee Network saw greater passenger numbers across the entire bus service.
However, it’s a sad fact that the increased bus use led to a rise in anti-social behaviour. Greater Manchester’s anti-social behaviour incidents rose last year, with a 48% increase in the number of assaults on buses in 2023. Weapon-related assaults rose by 25%, while 42% of the anti-social behaviour incidents were youth-related.
For buses in all parts of the UK, this is a particular area of concern. Buses have limited opportunity to stop on long journeys, so victims of abuse may have to wait for a long time before being able to leave the bus. Driver concentration on busy roads is of utmost priority so they are not able to step in – nor are they trained to do so.
Abusive behaviour was reported by a staggering 82% of bus drivers in a recent survey of 1,800 Unite members. To remedy this, the previous UK Government developed the Anti-Social Action Plan. This included a £2.5 million investment from the Department of Transport into funding patrols across four areas of England by Transport Safety Officers (TSOs).
TfGM had to address these concerns on buses too, to support customer safety on all transport. When passengers were consulted on what would make them feel more secure, the majority of commuters requested an increase in staff presence. The Bee Network created TravelSafe Support and Enforcement Officers (TSEOs) to provide a similar service to TSOs on buses.
What are TSEOs?
TSEOs are specifically trained to provide a safe, reassuring, and authoritative presence on public transport. Their efforts involve safeguarding, as well as targeting young individuals involved in criminal damage and anti-social behaviour, while also combating gender-based violence to make customers and staff feel safer on bus networks. This is the only scheme to be funded by police and is part of Manchester Council’s public transport relaunch.
TSEOs also ensure that buses are safe from anti-social behaviour, checking for obvious signs of misbehaviour and vandalism, such as graffiti. Keen observation is essential for TSEOs to uncover subtle signs of anti-social behaviour, such as grooming or trafficking. TSEOs are also trained to handle bus revenue protection duties, with savings reinvested into the network.
The role requires extensive empathy skills, with the ability to deliver mental health first aid and signpost to other services as required. Emotional resilience is necessary for all TSEOs due to the amount of mental labour needed for the role. Between December 2023 and February 2024, TSEOs dealt with 105 welfare or safeguarding-related incidents on buses, including instances linked to homelessness. TSOs on one of our rail contracts helped 279 vulnerable individuals, responded to 153 medical emergencies, and stopped 33 suicide attempts on trains, demonstrating the capabilities of the role.
In one instance, TSEOs showed their effectiveness on the Bee Network by reducing criminal behaviour and fostering empathy when a family with a young child faced racial abuse from another passenger. TSEOs took action to detain the individual who was spouting abuse and provide support to the affected family. The presence of TSEO made the young boy particularly appreciative, even trying on a TSEO’s hi-vis vest.
Development of TSEOs
To meet the needs of this demanding role, and to ensure safe practices when working with vulnerable community members, recruiters vet prospective TSEOs to the same standard of criminal checks, or greater, as the Metropolitan Police.
At the start of the Bee Network’s bus franchising first phase in September 2023, 30 TSEOs were employed and organised into three teams with their own leader. TfGM is the first organisation to be granted authority to deliver Community Safe Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) training and will be doing so throughout the months ahead. CSAS gives employees who are involved in community safety or traffic management roles a range of powers usually only available to police, such as the authority to issue fixed penalty notices for certain offences.
Providers for TSEO training aren’t common; Amulet is one of the few companies accredited to deliver training. This five-day specific security training gives TSEOs more power, such as detaining offenders if required. It contains specifics about deployment areas for Bee Network bus routes operating in Bolton, Wigan, Bury, Salford, and Manchester. TfGM is currently developing a CSAS+ course, a more in-depth training scheme that includes on-the-job training and assessments.
Funding for the training (which is roughly 5,000 GBP per person) comes directly from Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s offices, which has spearheaded and championed transport safety, as well as Transport Commissioner Vernon Everitt.
The scheme expanded since its initial success, with 30 more TSEOs recruited in February 2024. Further enhancements in team structures provide improved officer support, ensuring the safety of passengers. After successful implementation, the number of TSEOs expanded to 60 by March 2024 in its second phase, covering Rochdale, Oldham and other parts of Bury.
After 100 days in post, TfGM conducted a review on the TSEOs’ impact, structure, recruitment process, and public response. A reorganisation was then carried out, introducing a ‘regions’ approach. This involved assigning team leaders and deputy leaders to subgroups to provide officers with better management and supervision. As a result, all teams had access to a shift leader for support, guidance, or escalation when required.
The Future of TSEOs
TSEOs tended to 946 incidents across Greater Manchester between December 2023 and February 2024. TSEOs also submitted 486 pieces of intelligence to patrols external to the Bee Network. This resulted in 19 exclusion notices issued to recurring offenders and the removal of four bus passes. In addition to quelling anti-social behaviour, fair avoidance fell by a third between July 2023 and January 2024.
This success has led to the expansion of TSEOs in Greater Manchester and collaboration with organisations like Greater Manchester Police (GMP). TSEOs are increasingly involved in initiatives such as Operation AVRO, a monthly blitz led by GMP to combat local crime in all 10 districts of Greater Manchester.
The new transport secretary Louise Haigh met with Bee Network in July 2024, to discuss how its bus model can be replicated in all parts of the UK. Plans are underway to fully franchise the Greater Manchester bus network and bring it under public control by January 2025. The network expansion will increase the total number of TSEOs to a minimum of 90 in its third phase, potentially reaching 120 TSEOs in Tameside, Stockport, Trafford, and other areas of Manchester.
As the new Government pledges a crackdown on antisocial behaviour, these changes will run alongside Labour’s proposed Respect Orders, banning frequent offenders from accessing town centres including public transport. As the King’s Speech in parliament mentioned a specific focus on tackling anti-social behaviour on public transport, as well as future franchising plans to bring more public transport services under the care of local authorities, TSEOs are sure to become more present.
