A report from the British Transport Police (BTP) in 2021 said reports of sexual harassment on London’s public transport surged by 61% compared to before the pandemic. According to figures released there were 313 reports between the months of April and October compared to 194 over the same period in 2019. Not forgetting these are just the figures of those who have reported sexual harassment; a YouGov survey from 2020 suggesting that up to 90 per cent of offences are not reported. 

Common examples of sexual harassment on public transport are exposing intimate body parts, cyber-flashing; sending or showing sexual content without consent, up skirting; taking photos under someone’s clothing and touching someone inappropriately.  

In 2021 Laura Shoaf Chief Executive and Anne Shaw Executive Director for Transport for West Midlands led efforts to tackle the issue of violence against women and girls (VAWGs) on Transport. They were the UK’s first Violence Against Women and Girls Transport Champions. Both worked with the Department for Transport, the transport sector and passenger groups to identity the changes that need to be made across the country’s transport network.  

The report they published included recommendations that had been based on discussions with almost 200 respondents from charities to victims and transport planners. The discussions found a range of sexual harassments incidents and many cross-sectoral strategies were discussed.  

The findings were astonishing and the key areas the report highlighted included:  

• UK GDP is severely impacted by women and girls not taking up employment/training opportunities due to fears about travel. Around 4% of GDP is lost because of this.  
• The impact of VAWGs costs the Merseyside economy alone, around £338 million a year.  
• Little thought is given to how women use and perceive public transport despite being the predominant user group 
• More needs to be done to ensure the design of transport services includes appropriate surveillance, lighting, and parking provisions.  

Not only is this morally unacceptable it also causes social and economic harm and reinforces other forms of inequality. From the findings 13 recommendations were made on how the UK’s transport network can be made safer for women and girls.  

Some of the recommendations included:  

• Undertake a national communications initiative into tackling VAWGs, which is promoted nationally across our transport networks  
• Deliver better, effective training across the transport industry to help manage incidents involving VAWGs  
• Encourage an increased uptake of women working in the transport industry.  
• Create a national, intelligence database which captures incident reporting from all transport modes and areas   
• Develop a national education initiative in schools which educates young people on ways they can play a role in preventing VAWGs  
• Target available resources including staffing and deployment of police forces at locations which will have the greatest impact on our transport networks  

The report included some major concerns in regard to the UK’s transport infrastructure and we have a long way to go before all 13 recommendations can be addressed.   

However, since it’s publication in 2021 there have been several new commitments to help tackle the issue.  

Previously the British Transport Police, the Metropolitan Police Service, the Rail Delivery Group and women’s safety groups have come together to raise awareness of the zero tolerance to all forms of sexual harassment on London public transport. Campaigns such as 'Project Guardian' and the award-winning 'Report it to Stop it' communications campaigns. TfL’s most recent campaign 'Active Bystanders: Speak Up: Interrupt' encourages anyone to report any sexual behaviour regardless of if they think it is a criminal offence or not.  

More recently the ‘enough’ campaign was launched by the UK Government. The campaign includes television adverts, billboards, social media and radio advertising and highlights different forms of violence against women and girls and the simple acts that anyone can take to challenge perpetrators of abuse. Forms of violence against women and girls represented include street harassment, coercive control, unwanted touching, workplace harassment, revenge-porn and cyber-flashing. 

The campaign was informed by the 180,000 responses to the Call for Evidence last year. The campaign also includes communications to educate young people about healthy relationships and consent and ensure victims can recognise abuse and seek support. 

An example of technology helping developments is BTP’s Op Streamline, it provides an intelligence database of images which can be searched in order to identify links between crimes and suspect offenders. The image database is built from CCTV images of suspects and images of arrested or stopped persons taken with knowledge. Streamline Lite has many advantages in assisting investigators - cases in custody can be progressed more effectively by identifying links between multiple offences, known & unknown offenders through self-generated research. 

Several of the changes discussed were following the murder of Sarah Everard as the conversation around safety grew louder. 

However, suggestions such as having an increased presence of police need more thought. According to research by the End Violence Against Women Coalition following the murder of Sarah Everard almost half of women have less trust in the police. Are women and girls going to feel comfortable reporting an incident to a male police officer? The data also found that 76% of women think the culture of policing has to change in order to better respond to violence against women and girls. 

There is no singular way to tackle these issues, a multi layered and holistic approach is required. The more research done into the issue and the louder the discussion will help with making victims feel more comfortable to come forward.

Issues go back to institutionalised gender bias and the lack of diverse workforce within the policing and transport sector. Many women and girls do not feel comfortable in reporting a crime to a male police officer, having more visible female personnel and campaigns will help change this.

The issue is not one that can be dealt with overnight. Education is a key factor that could embolden women to seek help but also encourage bystanders to intervene. With the darker nights closing in infrastructure changes will also have a huge influence over the perception of safety. The louder we talk about the topic and the easier it is to report an incident will help show the patterns and trends and lead to pre-emptive solutions. 

Want to find out more and get involved?  

This month CIHT hosted a webinar that discussed how we can make travelling on public transport, and spaces such as stations and bus stops, safe and secure for women and girls. Speakers included: Susan Leadbetter Senior Consultant from WSP and CIHT’s Research Initiative Award winner 2022, Sam Painter Detective Inspector - Sexual Offences at the British Transport Police and Jo Field Chart President at Women in Transport. Members can watch the webinar here.  

Members can also get involved in the conversation on CIHT’s connect.  

In our latest episode of 'Transport Talks' we interviewed Katja Frisinger, a conductor for Great Western Railway. We discussed how the issue of women and girls’ safety plays out in their role. What post-COVID transport looks like, what passengers should do when they witness others feeling uncomfortable on trains and the importance of reporting everything and anything they see. Listen here. 

Words by Jessie Dunn- Digital Communications Officer