BUS travel in Glasgow has never been safer, new figures show.

Crime figures released to the Evening Times, following the alleged rape of a teenager on a city bus, reveal the number of attacks on passengers around the city has fallen.

From minor assaults, such as spitting, to drug offences and theft, violent and anti-social incident rates are dropping.

And First Glasgow, which operates the route that saw two men arrested following the alleged sexual assault, claimed figures showed such incidents are rare.

A spokesman for First Glasgow said: "I can assure passengers that bus travel remains a very safe form of transport.

"Assaults on our services are few and far between. For example, in 2012 there was less than one serious assault for around every 30 million passenger trips."

First Glasgow, part of UK-wide operator First, runs 114 million passenger trips around the city every year.

It collects crime data from its 950 Glasgow buses – which cover 41 million miles around the city – and has shared the information for the first time.

Figures show that last year in Glasgow there were four serious assaults aboard buses – down from five in 2011.

The number of minor assaults has remained broadly the same with 46 incidents in 2011 and 48 in 2012.

Drug offences dropped to zero last year from three offences in 2011.

Public disorder offences – which includes road rage – is down from 32 in 2011 to 30 last year.

And theft of passenger property remains static with 33 incidences occuring in both 2011 and 2012.

Vandalism figures are First's main success story, falling around a third between 2011 and 2012.

In 2011 there were 657 instances of graffiti and broken windows while last year there were 393.

Ten years ago this figure was slightly more than 8000.

The spokesman added: "I'd stress that given our scale of operations – 114 million passenger trips a year; 950 buses; 41 million miles covered annually – that crime on our buses is extremely low when you compare it with the statistics recorded by Police Scotland for similar crimes on the streets of Glasgow and the surrounding areas."

First Glasgow operates 950 buses on around 100 different routes across Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

It provides services 20 hours a day, seven days a week and 363 days a year, operating around 41 million miles annually.

The crime figures were released after the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl on a No57 First Glasgow bus near Silverburn shopping centre in the South Side's Pollok.

Two men, both aged 22, were this week arrested following the incident, which is said to have taken place on Friday, March 22, at around 10.30pm.

Detectives launched a probe after the teenager, who was travelling with a friend, claimed to have been sexually assaulted after moving to the top deck of the bus.

Three passengers helped the girls off the bus and helped her get home safely before police were called.

Following a public appeal, the two men were arrested.

Last year the Evening Times told how a father and son suffered a brutal bottle attack on a Glasgow bus.

The pair, aged 61 and 23, were seriously assaulted on the No61 as it left the East End and headed towards the city centre.

There are fears the father has been scarred for life, and he has had facial surgery.

catriona.stewart@ eveningtimes.co.uk