This is going to be a big month for anti-harassment efforts on public transportation. In Washington, DC, Collective Action for Safe Spaces and I have been working with our transit agency on an updated PSA campaign that we hope will launch on Oct. 25 for the UNiTE’s #OrangeDay around sexual harassment in public spaces. CASS is also launching its RightRides services on October 31, to give women and LGBQT folks a safe, free ride home late that night.
And this week, big changes were announced in New York City. Via Metro:
“The MTA is taking new approaches to combating sexual harassment, including adding cameras in new trains and an improved reporting system for victims and witnesses.
Public Advocate Letitia James and community activist groups Hollaback!, the Straphangers Campaign and the New York City Anti-Violence Project, announced the new measure Wednesday morning outside the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall Station.
The public advocate’s office said recent data showed some 3,000 women reported sexual misconduct incidents in the subway between 2008 and 2013, and that the majority of the incidents occurred on the 4, 5 and 6 trains during the morning rush.
James previously called for improved measures, outlined in an Aug. 1 letter to MTA Chairman Thomas F. Prendergast. Prendergast responded to James’ requests in a Sept. 25 letter.
Prendergast said the MTA has been running announcements on inappropriate touching since 2009, and will take further steps in hopes of improving rider safety and reporting. They are: links on the MTA homepage; reviewing with subway employees or how to handle improper conduct reports; a revised map that shows NYPD Transit Bureau locations and a new public service announcement that focuses on bystanders.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said 940 new trains set to replace old cars as part of the 2015-209 Capital Program will have cameras installed. Ortiz said the MTA is considering adding cameras in a new fleet of 300 trains. Currently, no MTA trains have cameras in the cars, Ortiz said.
Ortiz said the new PSA is still in development, and does not have a set launch date.”
