News that police, bus and rail chiefs in the region are joining forces to crack down on crime will be welcomed by the district's many public transport users.

Incidents of vandalism, rowdiness and violence on trains and railway platforms have been well documented in the pages of the Keighley News.

And buses have not escaped the attention of missile-throwing thugs.

Great emphasis is placed nowadays on the need to get more and more motorists to leave their cars at home, in a bid to help relieve congestion on our traffic-choked roads and for environmental reasons, and this sentiment has got to be applauded.

But if people do not feel comfortable or safe using public transport, persuading them to change their travel patterns will not be easy.

Safety, together with reliability and accessibility, will be high on many people's checklists.

Closed-circuit television is playing a major part in both helping to apprehend offenders and providing some reassurance to passengers -- Keighley & District Travel's hugely successful on-board cameras are evidence of how useful this can be.

But with the best intentions in the world, and even assuming that funding was not a barrier, blanket CCTV coverage focusing on every square centimetre of public transport infrastructure and rolling stock could only ever be a pipe dream.

It is heartening that Metro -- the county transport body -- has given its commitment to working with the police to combat problems and undercover patrols will be operating across the region in the coming months.

We must hope that their promised presence brings some reassurance to passengers and that the initiative is successful in terms of catching culprits.

The early signs -- with nine arrests already made in Bradford -- are encouraging.

But it is important also to bear in mind that the public has its part to play.

Everyone has a shared responsibility to help make bus and rail journeys more pleasant and safer.

By immediately reporting vandalism and other incidents to the relevant authorities, and providing as much information as possible, the chance of successfully prosecuting the perpetrators will be greatly enhanced.