Sexual harassment on public transit and the influence of perceptions of safety on travel behavior

Abstract

Sexual harassment on public transit remains an understudied and misunderstood issue within the transit planning profession. Conventional approaches to modeling travel behavior and mode choice which focus on travel time and destination, and which take a "gender-blind" approach fail to address the extent to which risk of sexual harassment and assault on public transit may influence women's travel behavior. This report examines women's perceptions of safety while using public transit, and argues that by better understanding how fear of sexual harassment influences travel behavior, planners can more effectively address women's transit needs.