This paper studies the relationship between public transport and nations of publicness through the lens of political discourse around the Swedish concept for (un)safety (otrygghet). In Swedish, (un)safety is a multifaceted concept that implicates fear of crime as well as other perceptions of (un)safety. The concept is both shifting and elastic, as it appears in public and political discourse. Research into unsafety and fear of crime in public spaces has often focused on individual perceptions. In this article, we look at how fear of crime and (un)safety are ideas that institutions aet on and shape. With Stockholm as a case study via a discourse analysis based on document and media analysis. Drawing on critical policy studies and Bacchi's WPR-approach, we ask what the problem of (un)safe public transport is represented to be . The analytical discussion explores two key themes: the discursive framing of what is (un)safe public transport, and the implications of this discursive framing for publics and the publicness of public transport. Our findings highlight tensions between different political ideologies to define and respond to the problem of (un)safety in this context . This struggle includes various implied publics and raises ongoing questions related to the securitization of public space.