Open Letter to Mayor Richard Parker: Will the West Midlands Publish Bus Safety Data under Franchising?

On 23 August 2025, I published open letters to the Mayors of Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and Liverpool, calling for Bus Safety Performance Data to be published as part of new bus franchising systems.

Now, with the West Midlands Combined Authority having confirmed its own franchising programme — due to begin in 2027 with full rollout by 2029 — I believe it is essential that the same questions are asked here.

Below I publish in full my open letter to Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, urging WMCA to commit to publishing Bus Safety Performance Data as part of its franchising scheme.

---

Open Letter

Richard Parker

Mayor of the West Midlands

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)

Date: 31st August 2025

---

RE: Safety Transparency in the West Midlands Bus Franchising Programme

Dear Mayor Parker,

I welcome the West Midlands Combined Authority’s decision to proceed with bus franchising from 2027, moving the region toward a simpler, more accountable network. This is a rare chance to reset standards on reliability, affordability, accessibility — and crucially — safety.

I have reviewed the West Midlands bus franchising documents (assessment, consultation papers, health/equity impact assessment, independent audit, and the draft/approved scheme). Across these, “safety” is referenced mainly in terms of secure journeys and passenger perceptions. What is missing is a concrete commitment to operational safety transparency: the regular, public publication of Bus Safety Performance Data (collisions, injuries by severity, fatalities, passenger falls, assaults on staff, near-misses), broken down at meaningful levels (e.g., route, operator, local authority area, incident type).

Since 2014, Transport for London (TfL) has published quarterly Bus Safety Data supported by open datasets. Other city regions moving to franchising have talked about safety but have not yet embedded safety data transparency into their models — and in Greater Manchester, a mayoral commitment to publish within 12 months remains undelivered nearly two years on. The West Midlands can — and should — do better.

---

My requests

1. Commitment to publication

Will WMCA/TfWM commit to quarterly publication of Bus Safety Performance Data — including collisions, injuries (by severity), fatalities, passenger falls, driver/operative assaults, and near misses — disaggregated at least by route, operator, local authority area, and incident type?

2. Standards and governance

What data standards (definitions, severity scales, recording rules) and governance (assurance, audit, corrective action) will be adopted to ensure consistent, high-quality reporting from day one of franchising?

3. Systems and integration

Which IT systems/databases will capture, validate, and publish this data, and how will safety metrics integrate with franchising dashboards that already track punctuality, reliability, fares, patronage, emissions, and customer experience?

4. KPIs in contracts

Will safety KPIs (e.g., collisions per million km, injuries per passenger-km, falls per million boardings, assaults per million staff hours) be embedded in franchise contracts and included in public performance reports alongside punctuality and reliability?

5. Co-design of the public format

Will WMCA/TfWM consult passengers and the workforce (including bus drivers) on the format of publication (e.g., open data CSVs, interactive dashboards, route-level quarterly PDFs, map views) to maximise accessibility and accountability?

---

Why deciding this now matters

Franchising is the opportunity to bake safety transparency into the foundations of the new network — not bolt it on later. Publishing safety data builds trust, helps focus prevention efforts (e.g., falls on board, recurring collision hotspots, staff assaults), and aligns the West Midlands with best practice already proven in London.

I would appreciate clear answers to the questions above and a timetable for introducing quarterly Bus Safety Data publication.

Yours sincerely,

Lee Odams

(writing in a personal capacity as a private individual)