Delinquency and vandalism in public transport. Report of the 77th round table on transport economics held in Paris on 8th-9th October 1987

169 Pages·1989·1.783 MB·English

by  OECD

ECONOMICRESEARCHCENTRE
DELINQUENCY
AND VANDALISM
IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT
EUROPEANCONFERENCEOFMINISTERSOFTRANSPORT
PARIS1989
ECONOMICRESEARCHCENTRE
REPORTOFTHE
SEVENTY-SEVENTH ROUNDTABLE
ONTRANSPORT ECONOMICS
HeldinParison8th-9thOctober 1987
onthefollowingtopic:
DELINQUENCY
AND VANDALISM
IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT
EUROPEANCONFERENCEOFMINISTERSOFTRANSPORT
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DELINQUENCY AND VANDALISM IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT
FRANCE
M. QUIDORT (cid:9) 5
GERMANY
W. BROG and M. VOLTENAUER-LAGEMANN (cid:9) 25
GREAT BRITAIN
R.H. MEADS (cid:9) 73
THE NETHERLANDS
A.R. HAUBER (cid:9) 117
SUMMARY OF THE DISCUSSION
(Round Table debate on the reports) (cid:9) 145
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS (cid:9) 161
ECMT - ECONOMIC RESEARCH CENTRE
Forthcoming publications (cid:9) 165

FRANCE
Michel QUIDORT
Union des Transports Publics (UTP)
Paris

SUMMARY
1. FINDINGS OF THE STUDIES CARRIED OUT BY UTP IN 1981
AND 1985 WITH RESPECT TO ACTS OF ASSAULT AND
VANDALISM (cid:9) 9
1.1. An initial indicator: the size of
built-up areas (cid:9) 9
1.2. Safety of staff of public transport
undertakings (cid:9) 10
1.3. Passenger safety (cid:9) 11
1.4. Vandalism as regards vehicles and
installations (cid:9) 12
1.5. Are there any factors which increase the
risks run? (cid:9) 14
1.6. Conclusions of Section 1 (cid:9) 15
2. METHODS USED BY URBAN PUBLIC TRANSPORT UNDERTAKINGS
TO COMBAT ACTS OF ASSAULT AND VANDALISM (cid:9) 1.5
2.1. Combating vandalism (cid:9) 16
2.2. Combating acts of assault (cid:9) 2L
3 . CONCLUSION: SELF-HELP IS THE ANSWER (cid:9) 24
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (cid:9) 24
Paris, April 1987

FINDINGS OF THE STUDIES CARRIED OUT BY UTP
IN 1981 AND 1985 WITH RESPECT TO ACTS
OF ASSAULT AND VANDALISM
As a sense of insecurity and acts of vandalism in public
transport systems were becoming ever-increasing and unavoidable
facts of daily life, reported and sometimes amplified by the
media, the "Union des Transports Publics" decided that it
should take stock of this issue as objectively as possible and,
accordingly, in 1981 and 1985 it carried out two quite detailed
surveys of the surface transport systems of its member
undertakings with a view to assessing the effective scale of
the problem in built-up areas in France.
To take snapshots of two moments in a period running
from 1977 to 1983 was not, however, the only aim of these two
studies, since the UTP also wanted to ascertain the means used
by urban systems to combat the social problem created by
ever-increasing acts of vandalism and assault.
The findings of the surveys point to two somewhat
conflicting conclusions: first, it can certainly be said that
the situation is by no means dramatic since, by and large, the
public transport passenger can travel safely and buses are not
death-traps. All must not be seen through rose-tinted
spectacles, however, and the disturbing trend in the number of
assaults, especially on drivers and inspectors, means that the
situation calls for attention, as does the sharply escalating
cost of damage to vehicles and installations.
At local level, therefore, each network has an essential
role to play in curbing this trend and, indeed, bringing it to
an end. To conclude that the situation is irreversible would
put paid to all hope of success in the efforts made by public
transport systems to provide the public with a high standard of
service and so acquire a good public image.
1.1. An initial indicator: the size of built-up areas
If the responses of the networks are compared with the
size of the town they serve, it must first be noted that the
degree of insecurity increases with the size of the built-up
area, as was of course to some extent expected, but the
"population thresholds" shown by the survey are particularly