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Background to the Region
Merseyside covers the five boroughs of Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral and in mid 2000 its population was 1.4million. Public transport plays an important role in the economic prosperity of the area with car ownership below the national average in an area with above average levels of unemployment.

Merseyside Police polices the region. Additionally, the railway network is policed by British Transport Police and the Mersey Tunnels by the Mersey Tunnels Police. The five district based Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships across the region are multi-agency and are comprised of organisations that have a shared commitment to reducing crime and disorder in their area. The Police and relevant Local Authority are the two agencies that are jointly responsible for reducing crime and disorder in their area but the partnerships recognise that many agencies, organisations and community groups have their role to play.

Perceptions of Crime and Disorder on Public Transport
The issue of personal security on public transport and the fear of crime and disorder should be put into context. Around 170 million bus passenger journeys are made annually, around 30 million passengers travel on the Merseyrail network and about 600,000 journeys are made on the Mersey Ferries. The overwhelming majority of these journeys are made without any problem. Only 18% of respondents to the survey mentioned earlier considered personal security a factor when choosing how to travel, with other issues such as convenience and reliability of services and their cost and comfort being more important.

However, the same survey found that 18% of respondents stated that if security were to be improved they potentially would use public transport more. Also, about one in ten passenger journeys are not made due to personal security concerns. Respondents were asked how safe or unsafe they felt using public transport. As would be expected there are differences between men and women and between daytime and nightime but, in general, 53% of the sample said they felt were very or quite unsafe using a bus stop or train station after dark, 46% using a train station car park at night and 45% on a bus or train at night. As expected the figures are higher for women with, for example, 68% of women feeling very or quite unsafe after dark at a bus stop or train station even though women are less likely to be victims of crime in public places. 37% of respondents to a survey undertaken in preparation of the Liverpool Crime and Disorder Strategy said they felt fairly or very unsafe travelling on public transport after dark. National research also has highlighted other vulnerable groups such as the elderly, disabled and minority ethnic communities as having particular personal security concerns.

Criminal Damage
Criminal damage to infrastructure and vehicles are major concerns. For example on average the glazing of 160 bus shelters is damaged every month, many of these on more than one occasion. Aside from the inconvenience and cost of this damage it also gives an adverse impression to the travelling public. Graffiti is also a concern; for example it is one of the top ten negative aspects raised in Railtrack's Environmental Management System. Objects thrown at buses and trains and damage to the vehicle interiors such as seats are also growing problems. In the financial year ending in March 2002 over £440,000 of damage occurred to bus windows. This is an average of £287 per vehicle. Not only does the actual incident where objects are thrown at vehicles cause a problem but there is also the potential for serious injury and indeed loss of life to occur especially if the object hits the driver.

Railway Crime
There are particular issues for the rail industry of trespass on the line and of objects being placed on the track which is now termed 'route crime'. In the year ending April 2002 figures provided by the British Transport Police show that there were 1,559 incidents of route crime on Merseyside of which 346 were deemed to be serious. The overall total decreased by nearly 10% in the last year, however the number of serious incidents increased by around 55%. In addition to these incidents in themselves being a crime, again the potential impacts could mean loss of life or injury to the trespasser and the potential for derailment of the train. Railway Crime also costs the industry an estimated £250 million each year. There is the additional hazard of the electrified third rail on the Merseyrail Electrics network and of overhead power lines.

Assaults
Fortunately physical assaults are relatively rare, for example in the year up until February 2002 only 2.5% of crime and disorder incidents reported to Merseytravel from their supported bus services involved assaults and only 4% of call-outs by Merseytravel's security contractor were for this reason. However many verbal assaults are often not reported by staff who unfortunately accept it as part of the job. The survey described above showed that 16% of respondents had experienced verbal abuse on public transport and 29% had observed it.

Targeting Resources
In order to tackle these, and other, incidents and give more confidence to the travelling public there needs to be a combined package of measures employed. No one solution will solve the problem and it will only be by joining solutions together that improvements will happen. Within this there is also the need to communicate successes and to provide public reassurance. This is why there is a section later in this strategy concerned with this subject.

Although the available data is not as good as it should be, it is also clear that maximum impact can be made by targeting resources on certain areas and routes. For example, work sponsored by Merseytravel carried out at the University of Liverpool forming the PhD thesis of one of their students showed that 65% of incidents of shelter damage occurred at 18% of shelters and 54% of incidents on buses occurred on 10% of routes.

Additionally, from the review of TravelSafe outlined earlier, three themes have emerged where if problems in these areas are tackled, the most impact will result. These three themes are:

• Law Enforcement
• Young People
• Town Centres and Transport Corridors

Action groups have been formulated to be responsible for delivering specific projects in each of these three thematic areas. The membership for these groups is drawn both from the members of the Partnership Board's organisations and also from other organisations that are not represented on the Board. The membership of the action groups, like that of the Partnership Board, also will be reviewed periodically.