CA: Experienced harassment on Sacramento public transit? RT wants to hear from riders

Sacramento Regional Transit is conducting a rider safety survey throughout October, asking riders about their experience on buses and at stations.

The findings of this survey will determine if the agency needs to make adjustments to its safety prevention efforts, a spokesperson said. This is the first time RT has conducted a public safety survey specific to riders.

The survey, which is anonymous, is offered in English, Spanish, Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese. The survey is designed for adult riders.

Throughout the survey, RT asks riders questions like the frequency and use of their services, if they feel safe, if they’ve reported harassment and if they’ve experienced situations that have made me feel unsafe. RT states that hostile comments, stalking or following, unwanted touching, having personal property stolen and sexual assault fall into this category.

RT also asks if these incidents occur during the daytime or after dark, and at bus stops and stations or on vehicles themselves.

Overall, this survey is trying to identify the frequency and types of street harassment on RT. Street harassment is defined as a range of verbal, non-verbal, physical or inappropriate gestures, unwanted contact or other behavior that would make riders feel unsafe or uncomfortable in a public place, the spokesperson said.

Female and LGBTQ+ riders experiencing harassment

This survey is in compliance with Senate Bill 1161 and SB 434, which requires agencies like RT to gather information on street harassment on public transit. Sacramento is currently among the top ten largest public transit agencies in California, according to RT.

Both pieces of legislation are in response to harassment against low-income women, girls and LGBTQ+ riders.

Seventy-seven percent of women experience sexual harassment in a public space, including 29% on mass transit, with women who are lesbian or bisexual more likely to experience harassment, according to a 2019 survey from the the University of California, San Diego Center on Gender Equity and Health.

A 2019 report by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority found that safety is the top concern for female transit riders.

Women of color and transgender riders are also at risk of experiencing harassment on buses and trains in California. The Center for American Progress learned that 11% of transgender people avoid using public transit due to fear of facing discrimination. Complaints of harassment have also seen an uptick from women of color who ride public transit in California.

Findings from a survey by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University, which was led by SB 1161, will also be used to determine if RT should make adjustments to its safety protocols, a spokesperson said. This survey was created for transit operators to collect information on street harassment of passengers.

“Despite wide-spread acknowledgment that transit passenger harassment is a problem, most transit operators don’t know specifically who is targeted, what kinds of behaviors are common, the scale of the problem, or how victims respond,” said the study’s author, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, in a news release.

The survey can be found on the agency’s website.

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