Transport UK is a leading private sector transport operator, serving millions of passengers every day through East Midlands Railway, Merseyrail (a joint venture with Serco), around 11% of London’s bus network, and rail replacement services across the UK.
Operating across multiple transport modes, safety is embedded throughout the organisation, from vehicle design and technology to frontline operations, staff wellbeing and customer safety.
Putting safety at the heart of operations
Transport UK continues to deliver safe, reliable and high-performing services across its rail and bus networks through a strong operational culture and a commitment to continuous improvement.
Across its bus fleet, the organisation is investing in innovative safety technologies, including camera monitoring systems that replace traditional wing mirrors, front-end vehicle designs that help reduce the severity of collisions involving pedestrians, and future technologies such as pedestrian and cyclist detection and warning systems.
Its London bus operations also support Transport for London’s Vision Zero ambition to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s roads.
Beyond vehicle safety, Transport UK is taking a leading role in tackling Violence and Intimidation Against Women and Girls (VIAWG). Merseyrail recently introduced a Female Safeguarding Strategy, contributing to a 50% reduction in sexual offences, a 27% reduction in weapons-related incidents and an overall reduction in crime across the network. East Midlands Railway has also achieved White Ribbon UK accreditation for its commitment to ending violence against women and girls.
Why Transport UK joined PACTS
Transport UK believes that improving transport safety requires collaboration across industry, government, research and policy.
“Transport safety cannot be achieved in isolation. At Transport UK, we believe delivering safe networks at scale requires the kind of cross-sector dialogue, policy engagement and shared learning that PACTS enables.
PACTS membership gives us an opportunity to join legislative and regulatory conversations at the point where they are being shaped, and the chance to contribute operational insight from our rail and bus networks.
For an operator working across complex transport networks, the ability to connect on-the-ground experience to the policy and research community is genuinely valuable, ensuring insight from our operations can inform better outcomes across the sector, not just within our own operations.”
Current focus: supporting safer active travel through operational insight
One of Transport UK’s key areas of focus is an innovation which moves away from the traditional view of buses’ contribution to road safety. They are giving bus operators the opportunity to play a central role in the design and delivery of safe physical active travel infrastructure through data collected on the vehicles.
As walking, wheeling and cycling schemes continue to expand, buses increasingly operate alongside a growing number of road users at greatest risk of harm. Transport UK believes operators hold some of the richest sources of real-world safety intelligence through telematics, CCTV and driver observations, and that this information should be used earlier in planning and policy development.
The organisation is exploring how operational data can help identify emerging risks before serious incidents occur, while supporting more effective integration of buses into active travel schemes and helping deliver Vision Zero ambitions.
Through its work and its membership of PACTS, Transport UK continues to demonstrate how operational experience, data and collaboration can contribute to safer transport networks for everyone.
