Young people using travel passes to get around Greater Manchester could have them removed if they persistently engage in antisocial behaviour, the Travel Safe Partnership has warned.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has been working with the police and other partners in response to multiple reports of youth-related crime and disorder at Bolton Interchange.
Several youths were identified as known offenders by officers during a deployment to the interchange, a known hotspot, on Friday 4th December. TfGM have now revoked their Our Pass and igo cards.
Police and transport staff will always look to speak to those involved in youth-related antisocial behaviour in the first instance, with a view to educating them on the impact and consequences – and only revoking passes as a last resort.
A youth who had been involved in previous antisocial behaviour was found with a baseball bat at the interchange on Tuesday 7th December and was arrested for possession of an offensive weapon.
The TravelSafe Partnership is led by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and GMP, with support from operators, local authorities and British Transport Police.
The operations at Bolton Interchange form part of ongoing efforts to tackle youth-related crime and antisocial behaviour on public transport in Greater Manchester.
Kate Green, TfGM’s TravelSafe Partnership Manager, said: “Everyone should be able to safely use and enjoy public transport, but there are some who continually act in a disruptive or threatening manner towards others.
“The TravelSafe Partnership take an enforcement, engagement and education-led approach to reassure the travelling public and deter crime and antisocial behaviour and speak to thousands of children and young people every year through our comprehensive youth-engagement programme.
“In this case, enforcement included confiscating young people of their travel passes. While these measures are only used as a last resort, I hope our work in Bolton sends a clear message to young people that crime and antisocial behaviour will be tolerated on our public transport network.”
TravelSafe teams will continue to carry out intelligence-led deployments at key points across the public transport network to deter antisocial behaviour and increase passenger confidence.
Since October, TravelSafe officers have spoken to tens of thousands of passengers on the network across almost 20 operations.
Police and transport staff dedicate 5,000 hours a week patrolling the network, while more than 3,800 CCTV cameras are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Since October 8 a total of 18 operations have been carried out by TravelSafe, with officers speaking to more than 15,000 people – the last of which took place at Bolton Interchange on Wednesday.
During that period a total of 790 fines have been issued, and 15 people were arrested.
