Crime fears revealed on London's public transport

Recorded crime this year on the London Underground was 0.9% higher this year

Almost four in 10 people using London's transport network have "felt worried" and nearly 10% were deterred from travelling due to a worrying incident they had experienced, according to Transport for London (TfL).

New data on crime and anti-social behaviour found the most cited worrying incidents on the London Underground network were drunken passengers or passengers drinking alcohol.

On buses, the most cited incidents include youth and school-related antisocial behaviour and threatening behaviour.

TfL said it is committed to working with the police "to prevent crime and reduce offending, so that every journey made in London is safe and feels safe".

Passengers pushing and shoving each other was a worry for bus users

Overcrowding concerned 11% of Tube users, while 13% of bus users were worried about passengers pushing and shoving each other.

The data comes from the latest TfL Customer Pulse survey from January to June 2025.

It showed 39% of participants felt worried on public transport in the past three months.

It also found that 9% of Londoners were completely or temporarily deterred from using the public transport network due to a worrying incident they had experienced on that mode of transport.

Of that 9%, most changed to another TfL mode of transport either temporarily or permanently.

TfL said 29% of "worrying incidents" occurred on the London Underground and 30% on the buses, reflecting the larger volume of passenger journeys made on these networks.

Theft 'down 18%'

The most cited worrying incidents on the London Underground network were drunken passengers or passengers drinking alcohol (21%), threatening behaviour or language of others, including fighting (11%) and busy environment or overcrowding at 11%.

On the bus network, the most cited incidents included youth and school-related antisocial behaviour (15%), threatening behaviour and language of others (including fighting) (14%) and passengers pushing and shoving each other (13%).

The data also showed that reports of violence increased by 5.5% when compared with the previous year (January to June 2024).

Violent offences were closely spread across the week, with 70.9% occurring Monday to Friday and 29.1% on Saturday to Sunday.

Recorded crime this year on the London Underground was 0.9% higher than during the previous year and hate crime has decreased by 4.6% from 627 hate offences last year compared with 598 this year.

Theft remains highest volume crime, but robbery levels fell by 18.6% - from 1,560 to 1,270 offences - in January to June 2025 compared with the same period last year.

11% of Tube users were concerned about overcrowding

TfL said "significant effort is underway to tackle serious violence, sexual offences and harassment, robbery, and hate crime".

The transport authority said it is working with the police to encourage and make it easier for customers and colleagues to report incidents so that action can be taken.

A spokesperson said the rise is reported violent crime since 2016 "can in part be attributed to the active encouragement of reporting of hate crime, violence and aggression towards or staff and sexual offences".

In the first six months of 2025, there were 907 sexual offences reported across TfL services, up from 879 last year.

The most common type of sexual offence reported was sexual assault and the largest increase in the volume of offences was seen on the bus network with 382 offences this year, an increase of 43.

Just over 30% of sexual offences were committed in the afternoon between 16:00 and 20:00.

The risk of experiencing a crime on London's transport network remains low

Siwan Hayward, TfL's director of security, policing and enforcement, said millions of journeys are made every day on London's public transport network without incident and the overall risk of witnessing or experiencing a crime on London's transport network remains low.

She added: "We have more than 500 uniformed officers deployed across our network and they are continuing to work closely with the Met Police and British Transport Police (BTP) to keep the public safe.

"The Met and BTP continue to focus efforts on tackling highest harm offences, that means all forms of violence against women and girls, serious violence, keeping weapons off the network, robbery, hate crime and work-related violence and aggression."