Open Letter to Mayor Steve Rotheram: Will Liverpool City Region Publish Bus Safety Data under Franchising?

On 23 August 2025, I published open letters to the Mayors of Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire, highlighting the urgent need for transparency in Bus Safety Performance Data as new franchising schemes are rolled out.

Now, with the Liverpool City Region preparing to introduce franchising from 2026 and move to a fully franchised bus network by the end of 2027, I believe it is vital that the same questions are put to Mayor Steve Rotheram.

Below I publish in full my open letter to Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, urging the Combined Authority to commit to publishing Bus Safety Performance Data as part of its franchising programme.

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Open Letter

Steve Rotheram

Mayor of the Liverpool City Region

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA)

No.1 Mann Island

Liverpool L3 1BP

E: info@liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk

cc: LCRCA Transport Team; Tom Kearney (#LondonBusWatch)

Date: 31st August 2025

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RE: Safety Transparency in the Liverpool City Region Bus Franchising Programme

Dear Mayor Rotheram,

I welcome the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s decision to implement bus franchising, with rollout beginning in 2026 and a fully franchised network by the end of 2027. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset standards of reliability, affordability, accessibility, and accountability across the region’s bus network.

Having carefully reviewed the Franchising Scheme (2023), the Full Assessment, the Equality Impact Assessment, the Metro Network Update (2025), and the Bus Service Improvement Plan, I note that while these documents set out ambitious goals on integration, affordability, environmental standards, and passenger security, nowhere is there a commitment to systematically collect and publish Bus Safety Performance Data (e.g., collisions, injuries, fatalities, passenger falls, driver assaults, or near misses).

Like West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire, the LCR documents frame safety almost exclusively as a matter of passenger perception or anti-social behaviour (lighting, CCTV, policing initiatives). This is important work, but without transparency on operational safety outcomes, passengers and communities are left in the dark.

Since 2014, Transport for London (TfL) has published quarterly Bus Safety Data broken down by route, operator, and borough, supported by open datasets for public scrutiny. In December 2023, Greater Manchester’s Mayor made a public commitment to do the same for the Bee Network. Nearly two years later, that promise remains unfulfilled — a warning of the risks of promising transparency without delivery.

The Liverpool City Region now has the opportunity to lead nationally by embedding safety transparency into franchising from day one.

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My requests

1. Commitment to publication

Will LCRCA 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, borough/district, and incident type?

2. Standards and governance

What data standards and governance arrangements are being put in place to ensure operators report consistently and accurately from the first day of franchising?

3. Systems and integration

Which IT systems or databases will capture and publish this data? How will this integrate with the Combined Authority’s wider franchising dashboards on punctuality, affordability, and emissions?

4. KPIs and public reporting

Will safety KPIs (e.g., collision rate per million km, injury rate per passenger km, falls per million boardings, assaults per million driver hours) be embedded alongside punctuality, patronage, and cost targets in franchising contracts and public reporting?

5. Consultation on format

Will the public, bus workers, and stakeholders be consulted on the format of published safety data, to ensure maximum accessibility (e.g., open data CSVs, route-level quarterly summaries, map-based dashboards)?

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Why this matters

The Franchising Scheme establishes the framework for standards and accountability. If safety data transparency is not embedded now, it risks being sidelined later.

The LCR’s own BSIP and Metro Network Update promise “safe, reliable, accessible” services, but without public reporting of collisions, injuries, or assaults, these remain only aspirational.

TfL has shown that transparency builds trust. Greater Manchester has shown the cost of delay. The Liverpool City Region can choose to lead with accountability.

I would be grateful for a clear response to these questions and a timetable for action.

Yours sincerely,

Lee Odams

(writing in a personal capacity as a private individual)

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Why I Am Publishing This Letter

Safety transparency matters. The Liverpool City Region is rightly investing in a more integrated and accountable bus system. But without public reporting of safety data, passengers, drivers, and communities cannot have full confidence in the system.

Publishing this letter in full ensures there is a public record of the questions now being asked of the Liverpool City Region’s leaders.

— Lee Odams