The unintended ramifications of a lonely male sitting by himself at the back of a bus.
A quick look at some of the things that may make the disturbing realities/perceptions of sexual harassment on public transit a serious roadblock to encouraging more transit ridership (or not):
Percentage of women in UK who felt unsafe riding public transit: 12.5%
Percentage of women who sometimes or frequently feel threat of sexual assault and/or harassment on New York subway: 51%
Percentage of women groped on New York subways: 63%
Percentage of women sexually assaulted on New York subways: 10%
Year of the lewd behaviour subway police squad: 1983
Result: Men falsely arrested and squad relinquished
Number of groping incidents on Boston transit system in 2007: 17
Year anti-groping campaign launched: 2007
Number of groping incidents the next year: 38
Transit stops most feared in US: Empty bus stops and train stations
Transit stops most feared in Taiwan: Crowded buses and subways
The percentage capacity of Japanese trains during rush hour: 160
Percentage of Tokyo teenagers groped while riding trains: 70%
Solution to groping in Japan: Women only passenger cars
First female-only train carriage: 1954
Results: Insignificant decrease in sexual harassment cases
Potential unintended consequence of female-only cabins: Targeted assaults
Mexico’s answer to transit perverts: Pink taxis
New York’s answer to transit perverts – not to mention the overall best way to combat sexual harassment on transit: Rage + Cell Phone Camera
While this post is an admittedly superficial look at sexual harassment on transit, it is a serious concern and can undoubtedly act as a barrier to encouraging further transit usage. From my experience, it is one of the most common complaints from female passengers. So the question is, aside from full on confrontation with the perpetrator, are there any solutions to curb this type of behaviour? And could gondola transit help combat this problem or will gondola cabins aggravate this problem?