Crimes on buses spike by 80% during school home time hours in West Midlands

A total of 4,222 bus-related crimes were reported to WMP in the last year.

Crimes on buses surged during afternoon commutes, with a peak of 522 incidents recorded at 3 pm, during school dismissal hours.

At 2 pm, 290 cases were recorded in the hour before West Midlands schools dismissed their pupils.

Then, crimes on buses increased by 80% between 3 and 4 p.m.

Numbers continued to spike beyond 4 p.m. before beginning to fall into the evening hours.

Data obtained by Personal Injury Claims UK via a Freedom of Information request to West Midlands Police showed that individuals aged 15 to 19 were responsible for 29.42% of crimes on buses from June 2023 to present

The second most active age group for bus-related crime was 10-14-year-olds, who were responsible for 16.4% of incidents, 13% less than 15-19-year-olds.

In 2019, BirminghamLive reported that commuters were afraid to ride city buses as on-board crimes rose.

The publication found that a staggering 89% didn't feel safe on the National Express vehicles.

The number of recorded bus crimes had increased at the time by 7%, according to the latest report from the WM Combined Authority at the time.

Between April and the end of March, 195 crimes occurred on board the buses in the region, and public order and robbery were said to be the offences facing the biggest hike in services.

According to updated crime figures from West Midlands Police, violent crimes are now facing the biggest hike in bus services in the area.

31% of crimes on buses were recorded as ‘violence against the person’, 13% more than the next most common crime of arson and criminal damage.

The total number of "violent crimes" in the area is 238,000, with the annual crime rate in the West Midlands region at 42.8 crimes per 1000 people.

The area has the third highest violent crime rate out of 9 regions in England and Wales, only surpassed by the North East and Yorkshire, which have the highest crime rate in England and Wales.

However, positively so, the number has decreased by 11.5% compared to year over year in May 2023-April 2024, according to national statistics data revealing the reduction in overall crime rate in the West Midlands.

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