LGBT+ and women's safety groups join "get home safe" campaign for better night time bus network throughout Yorkshire

Better Buses West Yorkshire are launching a "get home safe" campaign for a more frequent and reliable night time bus network in Yorkshire’s city regions.
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The move highlights the increasing unreliability of services.

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Unions, students, LGBT+ groups, and women’s safety campaigners are backing the petition which is calling on Yorkshire’s metro mayors and council leaders to improve public safety by introducing a frequent and reliable night bus network.

Unions, students, LGBT+ groups, and women’s safety campaigners are backing the petition for safer night time bus travel throughout Yorkshire. Picture: Dan Rowlands/SWNS.Unions, students, LGBT+ groups, and women’s safety campaigners are backing the petition for safer night time bus travel throughout Yorkshire. Picture: Dan Rowlands/SWNS.
Unions, students, LGBT+ groups, and women’s safety campaigners are backing the petition for safer night time bus travel throughout Yorkshire. Picture: Dan Rowlands/SWNS.
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The campaign, which launches today (Wednesday, December 15), will see organisations representing thousands of local residents demand that politicians speed up plans to bring regional bus networks into public control.

The petition claims that handing control of the network over to local politicians would allow later running and more frequent services through cross-subsidy - where the profits from busy daytime routes support quieter night services - something that is currently impossible.

The move follows increased public concern about violence against women and other groups travelling at night in recent months with the Leeds Girls Night In campaign, which led a recent boycott of nightclubs over failures to prevent spiking, identifying unreliable buses as an additional barrier to having a safe night out.

Making buses “cheaper, more frequent, later running, safer and with CCTV” was also a key finding of the Women Friendly Leeds ‘safety survey.’

Leeds Girls Night In, which led a recent boycott of nightclubs over failures to prevent spiking, identified unreliable buses as an additional barrier to having a safe night out.Leeds Girls Night In, which led a recent boycott of nightclubs over failures to prevent spiking, identified unreliable buses as an additional barrier to having a safe night out.
Leeds Girls Night In, which led a recent boycott of nightclubs over failures to prevent spiking, identified unreliable buses as an additional barrier to having a safe night out.
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Isabel Davies, from the Leeds Girls Night In campaign, said: “Spending evenings at pubs, clubs or societies is a key part of the University experience. However, poor public transport, and the unease this causes, creates unequal access to these opportunities, particularly for women, LGBT+ students, or people of colour.

“Many students also rely on income from shift work to support their studies - it’s crucial that they are able to get home from work safely. A bus network that is run in the interests of its passengers, not just for profit, would be a big step in the right direction.”

Campaigners also plan to raise concerns over the significant increase in the unreliability of services over the last six months due to a driver shortage at Yorkshire’s bus operators.

The petition criticises the mayors’ recently published Bus Service Improvement Plans for failing to explain how future shortages will be avoided.

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It suggests that public control would prevent bus operators from prioritising shareholders dividends over drivers’ pay by guaranteeing a standardised wage across the region.

Dominic Bascombe, a Regional Official for the performers' union Equity, said: “The unsocial hours that many of our members work means that after leaving theatres, clubs, and performance venues they are often at the mercy of unreliable public transport.

“A better bus service means improved safety to and from the workplace for them, the audience, and our communities.”

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