Research and analysis

Personal safety on transport

Study exploring how safe people feel on the transport network and their experience of incidents impacting their personal safety.

• From: Department for Transport
• Published: 26 February 2026

Documents

Personal safety on transport

PDF, 1.73 MB, 101 pages

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Personal safety on transport supplementary tables

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 65 KB

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Details

Report examining perceptions of personal safety on public transport and the prevalence of incidents which undermine it.

The study:

• shows how safe people feel getting to, waiting for and travelling on the transport network
• reports prevalence of experiences of anti-social behaviour, violence, verbal abuse, theft, sexual harassment and unwanted behaviours whilst travelling
• explores how perceptions and experiences vary by time of day, journey stage and transport mode, as well as for different groups of people in society

Findings are from a representative survey of approximately 4,900 adults in Great Britain.

The findings of the study will be used to shape transport policies and operational activities to improve safety and perceptions of safety on public transport.

The study builds on similar study work from:

• the ‘National Travel Attitudes Study: Wave 8’
• ‘Perceptions of personal safety on public transport’
• ‘Interventions to improve transport safety for women and girls’

The research was conducted for the Department for Transport by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen).

Published 26 February 2026