Commercial Bus Industry Resources to Counter Human Trafficking

Survivors of human trafficking report being subjected to the crime through all modes of transport, including busing. Human traffickers recruit, transport, and exploit their victims via commercial buses in urban and rural communities. 

This page offers information, training, printable materials, graphics, and resources for commercial busing industry personnel to counter human trafficking. 

Commercial Bus-Related Data

Transportation-related data on human trafficking includes the International Organization for Migration’s Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative’s 2020 analysis of over 80,000 individuals subjected to human trafficking from 171 countries. The data indicates that nearly 80 percent of international human trafficking cases crossed official points of entry, including approximately 34 percent by bus, and another 26 percent crossed unofficial points of entry by bus. Transport-related data in the U.S. includes the Human Trafficking Institute’s (an NGO) Federal Human Trafficking Report of federal sex trafficking cases filed in 2023, which found that defendants used buses in 3.2 percent of the cases.

Survivors of human trafficking report being subjected to the crime through all modes of transport. The NGO United Against Slavery conducted a National Outreach Survey for Transportation in 2021 that included 159 survivor respondents that utilized transportation during recruitment, exploitation, and extraction or escape. The survey found that 81 percent of 107 survivors of human trafficking utilized transportation during their recruitment, 76 percent used transportation during the course of their exploitation, and 52 percent stated that transportation facilitated their exit or escape from their trafficking situation. Of 97 survivor respondents, 19 percent were relocated during their exploitation by private bus, 12 percent by long distance bus, and 8 percent by intercity bus. 

Indicators of Human Trafficking in Commercial Bus Travel

As a commercial busing sector employee, you play a critical role in preventing, recognizing, and reporting suspected instances of human trafficking in and around commercial buses and bus stations.

Learn the signs or indicators of human trafficking, which can be observed in bus stations, during check-in, security checks, or boarding. They can also be present on the commercial bus itself.

Initiatives and Training

Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Leaders Against Human Trafficking (TLAHT) initiative is comprised of transportation and travel industry stakeholders working jointly to maximize their collective impact in combating human trafficking. TLAHT offers a 20-minute multimodal training video for transportation employees and the traveling public. Access TLAHT’s multimodal human trafficking awareness training.

Awareness Materials and Resources

Download, share, and display posters, pocket cards, social media graphics, and other graphics to help spread the message on how to identify and report suspected instances of human trafficking. Posters and social media graphics include a QR code that links to the TLAHT awareness campaign page. We request that users sign the TLAHT pledge to utilize the materials.