First Bus partners with Strut Safe to help passengers feel safe and supported from bus door to front door
From the minute people step off the bus to the minute they’re at their front door, First Bus and Strut Safe will help people safely navigate their journey home
London, UK, 12th March 2025: First Bus, one of the UK’s largest bus operators, is proud to be partnering with Strut Safe, a volunteer-operated support telephone line offering a friendly voice at the end of the phone for those travelling or walking home alone in the UK.
As part of its partnership, First Bus will showcase Strut Safe’s contact number on over 500 on-board digital screens and posters across more than 2,200 buses in Scotland, Midlands, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, West of England and South-West of England. The details will also feature on the First Bus app, social channels and will be shared with First Bus’ existing customer database.
Strut Safe telephone lines are open on Friday and Saturday between the hours of 7PM and 3AM, and Sundays from 7PM to 1AM, offering non-judgemental support over the phone to anyone walking or travelling home. Both First Bus and Strut Safe are committed to ensuring everyone’s safety, and with additional funding from First Bus, Strut Safe will soon be able to extend its hours to include Thursday evenings too.
First Bus colleagues are also being made aware of how the service can help, reflecting the company’s commitment to their employees’ wellbeing and creating more ambassadors for the service.
Dee Harrison MBE, Head of Health and Safety at First Bus, comments: “At First Bus we are passionate about making a difference for our customers. The care we have for our passengers doesn’t stop when they step off the bus, and our new partnership with Strut Safe demonstrates our commitment to our customers. By working with Strut Safe, we aim to raise awareness of this fantastic organisation as well as offer our customers the chance to feel supported on every step of their journey."
Rho Chung, Director of Communications at Strut Safe, said: “We are so excited to be partnering with First Bus, making our service accessible to more people across the country and helping them feel safe from bus door to front door. The generous donation from First Bus means we can extend our opening hours to Thursday evenings in the near future, allowing us to provide more reassurance to passengers in need during their travels. You can contact us on 0333 335 0026.”
Notes to editors
Notes to editors
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Full hi-res imagery can be viewed and downloaded here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bPCSg6r5IX2TF8iam6_HmCVcwtJXrbl4?usp=sharing
About First Bus
At First Bus, we’re on a mission to grow bus usage – so we’ll get behind initiatives that move people out of cars and onto the bus.
We’re one of the UK’s largest bus operators, transporting more than 1.5 million passengers a day. Our local bus services serve more than 25% of the population of Great Britain and over half of the UK’s top 15 most populated urban areas.
We are a leading operator in the majority of our local areas, including major urban centres such as Glasgow, Bristol and Leeds.
We have proudly launched our First Bus London operation and now operate 83 routes in west and central London from 10 garages serving 180 million passengers annually.
The combined operation now manages a fleet of over 5,750 buses across the UK.
Transforming our business for the better, we’re putting our people and customers at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we’re the UK’s largest national bus operator to achieve real Living Wage employer status, cementing our position as an employer of choice in the sector.
First Bus is committed to operating a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035. We will have over 1000 zero-emission buses in operation across our UK fleet by the end of 2025.
We’re passionate about giving back to the communities we serve, which is why we’re helping local businesses to progress their decarbonisation journeys – giving them access to our charging hubs while our buses are on the road.
We also operate, Specialist Passenger Solutions, First Travel Solutions, York Pullman Bus Company, Lakeside, Ensignbus, Anderson Travel - and the Aircoach network and Matthews in Ireland.
First Bus is a division of FirstGroup.
Find more information here: https://news.firstbus.co.uk/
About Strut Safe
Strut Safe is a volunteer-operated and non-judgemental support line for people travelling on their own. They stand in solidarity with marginalised people and are unaligned with the police, providing kindness and reassurance to anyone who needs it during their travels. Calls to Strut Safe can be made from anywhere in the UK. When calling Strut Safe, the automated system will transfer callers to an available volunteer. The volunteer will ask callers for their name and location, then chat to them about whatever they want until they are safely through the door. All volunteers are thoroughly assessed, trained, and hold valid disclosure and barring service certificates.
You can find out more about Strut Safe here.