Open Letter to Mayor Tracy Brabin: Will West Yorkshire Publish Bus Safety Data Under Franchising?



On 23 August 2025, I submitted detailed Freedom of Information requests to Transport for Greater Manchester and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to highlight their continuing failure to deliver on promises to publish bus safety performance data. Despite assurances given in December 2023, Greater Manchester has still not published this vital information.

As West Yorkshire now moves forward with bus franchising, I believe it is crucial that these mistakes are not repeated.

Below I publish in full my open letter to Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, asking whether the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) will commit to publishing Bus Safety Performance Data as part of its franchised system.


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Open Letter

Tracy Brabin
Mayor of West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Wellington House
40-50 Wellington Street
Leeds LS1 2DE

E: mayor@westyorks-ca.gov.uk

cc: Dave Pearson, Director of Transport Services, WYCA; Gillian Graves, Head of Bus Reform, WYCA; Tom Kearney, #LondonBusWatch

Date: 30th August 2025

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RE: Will West Yorkshire publish Bus Safety Performance Data under franchising?

Dear Mayor Brabin,

As someone who has long campaigned for improved working conditions for bus drivers and greater transparency around bus safety, I would first like to commend you and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) for progressing bus franchising, as confirmed in the March 2024 West Yorkshire Bus Franchising Scheme. Like many, I welcome the ambition to deliver a bus system that is more affordable, accessible, and reliable.

Having carefully reviewed the West Yorkshire Bus Service Improvement Plan (2024), the BSIP Delivery Plan (2025–26), and the Franchising Scheme (March 2024), I note that “safety” is repeatedly emphasised as a priority. The documents highlight the importance of:

Providing a safe and inclusive bus system for women, girls, and vulnerable passengers.

Tackling anti-social behaviour and crime through the Safer Travel Partnership with West Yorkshire Police.

Ensuring that bus stations and interchanges are safe, accessible, and welcoming environments.


However, I am deeply concerned that nowhere in these documents is there any reference to the systematic collection or publication of Bus Safety Performance Data — i.e. data on collisions, injuries, fatalities, passenger falls, driver assaults, or near misses.

Since 2014, Transport for London (TfL) has published quarterly Bus Safety Data, broken down by route, operator, and borough, supported by an open dataset for public scrutiny. In December 2023, Greater Manchester’s Mayor made a public commitment to introduce similar reporting for the Bee Network. More than 20 months later, that promise remains unfulfilled — a cautionary tale which risks undermining public trust.

West Yorkshire now has a clear opportunity to lead by example. With franchising powers in place, WYCA is in a position to ensure that bus safety performance is not treated as a hidden or secondary issue, but rather as a matter of public accountability and transparency.

I therefore respectfully ask the following questions:

1. Will WYCA commit to publishing quarterly Bus Safety Performance Data (collisions, injuries, fatalities, assaults, near misses, etc.) once franchising is operational, in line with TfL’s model?


2. What systems and governance are being put in place now to ensure this data can be collected consistently from operators from day one?


3. Has WYCA considered embedding bus safety performance metrics into its BSIP targets and KPIs, alongside patronage, affordability, and reliability?


4. Will WYCA consult the public and stakeholders on how Bus Safety Data should be presented, to ensure maximum accessibility and accountability?



I strongly believe that without transparent, publicly available Bus Safety Data, franchising will fall short of delivering the “world-class standards” it promises. Safety is not simply about perception or policing — it must also be about robust monitoring and accountability of actual outcomes.

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

Yours sincerely,
Lee Odams
(writing in a personal capacity as a private individual)


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Why I Am Publishing This Letter

Transparency matters. WYCA has rightly set bold targets for reliability, affordability, accessibility, and environmental performance. 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 West Yorkshire’s leaders.

— Lee Odams

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