Good News Story – Bus Pilot

Merseyside Youth Association (MYA), commissioned through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Travel Safe Partnership and Knowsley Safer Communities, recently delivered an 11-week public transport pilot aimed at improving safety, confidence, and support for young people travelling across Knowsley. The project was delivered by MYA’s Knowsley team as part of its wider detached youth work offer.  

As part of the project, detached youth workers were deployed across local bus routes, bus stations, and community transport spaces to engage directly with young people, particularly young women around their experiences of travelling on public transport. Detached youth work involves meeting young people in their own spaces, building trusted relationships, and offering support in environments where they feel most comfortable. 

Across the pilot, MYA youth workers delivered 99 hours of detached youth work and engaged with more than 200 young people. Conversations focused on travel safety, awareness of reporting routes, and access to support services and wellbeing opportunities. Youth workers also shared practical resources such as Bustimes.org and Strut Safe to help young people feel more confident when travelling. 

Feedback gathered through a travel safety survey highlighted that many young people would feel more confident travelling if youth workers were present on public transport, while also identifying wider concerns around evening travel, harassment, and awareness of how to report incidents. 

Alongside supporting young people, the pilot also contributed to wider community safety, with staff reporting environmental concerns and strengthening relationships with local partners and members of the public. The visible presence of youth workers across the network created opportunities to raise awareness of local youth provision and demonstrate the value of youth work within everyday community spaces. 

The project has shown strong potential as an innovative model of detached youth work and highlights the important role youth services can play in supporting safer, more inclusive public transport systems across the Liverpool City Region.