Harassment on public transport and its impacts on women’s travel behaviour

ABSTRACT

Incidence of harassment on and around public transit is widely reported in grey literature, particularly for women and members of marginalised groups. Given the international evidence that harassment and subsequent fear of crime may increase car use over public transport use, fear of crime may be compromising efforts to increase the share of public transport in Australian cities. This paper reviews international literature on harassment and transit behaviour, focusing on its prevalence and transport-behavioural impacts within a fear of crime framework. Potential solutions that are relevant to planning are reviewed. The applicability of international examples to the Australian context highlights potential research opportunities for understanding the public impacts and potential solutions for transit-related harassment in Australia.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual harassment
• public transport
• fear of crime
• women
• transport behaviour

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Those who use public transport out of need rather than choice.