In short
Bed bugs are occasionally found on trains and buses, usually in fabric seats, but the risk of carrying them home from a single journey is low. They prefer places where people sleep for hours. Commuters are far more likely to pick them up from a hotel, a holiday let, second-hand furniture or a friend's flat. If you think one has hitched a ride, wash and dry the clothes hot and check your bag.
In this guide
Every so often a photo of a bed bug on a train seat goes round social media, and for a few weeks people look at the fabric seats on their commute with suspicion. Manchester has one of the busiest rail and tram networks in the country, so it is a fair question. The reassuring answer is that public transport is a much smaller risk than it feels.
Can bed bugs live on trains and buses?
They can survive there for a while. Bed bugs hide in seams and crevices, and fabric seats, the gaps between seat cushions and the joints in seat frames all give them somewhere to go. Reports of bed bugs on trains, buses and planes do come up from time to time across Europe, usually on long-distance or overnight services.
But a train is not a good home for them. Bed bugs need to feed on someone who stays still for a long time, usually asleep, and they reproduce where they can feed repeatedly. Passengers sit for minutes, not hours, and the carriage is cleaned regularly. Any bugs on a train have usually been carried on by a passenger, rather than living there.
How likely are you to bring one home?
For an ordinary commute, the chance is low. To pick one up, a bug would need to be on your seat, crawl onto your clothes or bag during the journey, and stay there until you got home. It happens, but it is far less common than the routes that account for most infestations:
- staying in a hotel, hostel, holiday let or student halls where they are present
- buying or being given second-hand beds, sofas or mattresses
- staying overnight at a friend’s or relative’s home that has them
- a neighbour’s infestation spreading through the walls of a flat
- luggage that has been next to infested luggage
If you have bed bugs and have not done any of these, a journey might be the cause, but it is worth thinking carefully about other sources first, because that tells you where else to check.
Simple precautions for commuters
You do not need to change how you travel, but a few habits help if you are worried:
- Keep your bag on your lap or on a hard surface rather than tucked into a fabric seat.
- Glance at the seam of a fabric seat before you sit if a carriage looks neglected.
- If you see a bug, move seats and report it to the operator. They are used to this and will take the carriage out for treatment.
What to do if you think one has come home with you
Check yourself and your bag
A bed bug is flat, oval and reddish-brown, about the size of an apple seed. Check the seams of your coat and bag and the folds of your clothes. If you find one, keep it in a sealed bag or jar, or stuck to clear tape, so it can be identified.
Wash and dry hot
Put the clothes you were wearing in a bag, then wash them at 60°C and tumble dry on hot for at least 30 minutes. Heat kills every stage. Items that cannot be washed can go in a hot tumble dryer on their own.
Keep an eye on the bed
For the next few weeks, check your mattress seams and headboard every few days. A single bug may come to nothing; a female that has already mated could start an infestation, and the first signs would be bites or small dark spots on the mattress a few weeks later.
Do not spray
Shop sprays do not help with a single bug and can spread an early infestation. The NHS advises using a pest control service if you do have bed bugs.
If you find signs at home
If bites start, or you find bugs or droppings on the bed, act early. One room caught in the first couple of weeks is far cheaper to treat than a flat where bugs have reached the sofa and the room next door. An inspection confirms whether it really is bed bugs, which is worth doing if you have bites but no bug, because fleas, mites and carpet beetle larvae are common lookalikes.
If you are in Manchester, a free quote puts you in touch with a technician who works your area, and our cost calculator shows typical prices for a flat or house.
For operators
Transport companies, like hotels, deal with bed bugs as part of normal cleaning and maintenance. The approach is the same: take the affected carriage or vehicle out of service, treat it, and check the ones it was coupled to or parked with. Our page for hotels and serviced apartments covers the room-by-room approach that commercial operators in the city use.