Sexual harassment is a problem on transit systems worldwide. Women in particular face a lot of harassment (one piece of evidence is this 2014 poll of riders from 16 major transit systems in the world). More than a dozen countries even offer women-only transit options as one (band aid, short-term) solution, including in Egypt, Japan, India, Mexico, and Nepal.
But anti-harassment PSAs and reporting efforts are gaining traction, too. Earlier this year, both New York City and Washington, DC, released new PSAs about harassment (SSH helped with the ones in the DC). In DC, there is an online reporting form and front line transit staff are trained to handle harassment complaints.
Last week, over International Anti-Street Harassment, transit systems launched new anti-harassment campaigns in:
London (“Report It To Stop It“)
Los Angeles (“It’s Off Limits” – passengers who see or experience sexual harassment can call the sheriff’s hotline at 888-950-7233 or report through the free LA Metro Transit Watch safety app)
Vancouver (#ItsNotaCompliment)
In France, a new study released last week found that 100% of women had been harassed while riding public transportation and I talked to staff at the office of women’s rights who said they will be launching a nation-wide campaign next month to address it (to my knowledge, they will be the first country to do this on that scale).
This is all great news. We need more transit systems to step up and take this issue seriously.
