Reducing Gender-Based Violence in Public Transportation Strategy Design for Mexico City, Mexico

Gender-based violence on public transportation in Mexico City, Mexico, is a growing concern. Current efforts to counteract the violence have focused on transit vehicles for exclusive use by women and children and campaigns to promote the report of offenses. To characterize the problem, this study conducted a transit user survey, workshops with transit users, interviews with operators, and interviews with experts in the field. The study found that, even though transit users believed that the gender-exclusive transport service reduced problematic encounters, they did not view the service as a solution to the problem of gender-based violence. Transit users would prefer to see the problem addressed through a combination of interventions including social marketing, mobile phone reporting systems, and transit service upgrades. Government agencies acknowledged that gender segregation and current reporting systems were only partially successful, and nongovernmental organizations and private operators agreed. Those agencies added that they were ready to contribute to the effort to find solutions to the problem. Study recommendations included (a) a communication campaign to foster better social behavior by passengers; (b) the use of technology, such as cell phone applications, to enable users to report offenses; and (c) the further investigation of the potential for new technology-based niche transportation services to address particular markets that were unsafe.