Women feel safer with CCTV at bus stops, says TfL

A trial of CCTV at bus stops across the capital has made women feel safe and will be expanded, Transport for London (TfL) has said.

First trialled at five bus shelters in March 2024, 15 more cameras were installed at bus stops in Brent, Croydon, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hillingdon, Lambeth, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Westminster.

TfL said 80% of 1,000 women surveyed said CCTV made them feel safe and 73% stated they would be more likely to travel by bus.

Speaking at a City Hall meeting with TfL's board on Monday, transport commissioner Andy Lord said: "This is a really important initiative for us, particularly in reducing violence against women and girls."

The cameras, which are integrated into the shelters themselves, retain recordings for 31 days to support police investigations.

Claire Mann, chief operating officer for TfL, said four of the 20 bus shelters already analysed showed the trial had had "a very, very positive impact".

She said: "We're going to analyse the remaining 16 shelters and it's quite clear that rolling out CCTV at bus shelters is definitely the way forward.

"We need to obviously ensure we have the funding to do so but it sounds like we're going to be rolling that out further now."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk