BTI shortlisted for national award
A collaborative project to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) at Barnsley Interchange has been shortlisted for Best Alliance/Partnership at the upcoming National Transport Awards (NTA).
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA), which runs the bus station, partnered with Barnsley Council, Youth Justice, Stagecoach Yorkshire, Northern Rail, South Yorkshire Police and British Transport Police in January 2024 to work together to solve a shared problem.
By working in collaboration, we shared data and intelligence, made a successful bid for national police and council funding, and invested in a new PA system and improvements to the CCTV in the interchange and surrounding areas.
The partnership also implemented additional town centre warden and police patrols, an interchange ASB mobile response team and regular police public engagement stands within the bus station.
As a result, there was a 45% reduction in incidents at the interchange in comparison with the previous year (2023/24), including:
- 26% reduction in anti-social behaviour
- 50% reduction in incidents of crime
- 75% reduction in public order offences
- 10% increase in footfall across the wider town centre.
“These successful results show how, by engaging with all stakeholders, we were able to deliver interventions that had a positive impact in our communities, exemplifying the power of working together for the common good”, says SYMCA Head of Customer Operations Dale Sparks.
The National Transport Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday 2 October.
