New study reveals the world's most unsafe public transport systems
* Bogota, Mexico City and Lima are the most unsafe according to YouGov poll
* New York was rated the best of the 16-cities survey, followed by Tokyo * London ranked as the fourth best in the survey of more than 6,500 women
* Study examined responses of women in 15 of world's largest cities and NYC
Latin American cities have the most dangerous transport systems for women, according to a new survey.
Colombia's capital Bogota, that has no city train system but a network of red buses, was found to have the most unsafe public transport in a poll conducted by YouGov.
The poll of 15 of the world's largest capitals and New York, the most populous US city, found Bogota was followed in the list by Mexico City, Lima, and then Delhi. br> The survey of more than 6,550 women and gender experts ranked Moscow as the worst European capital, coming ninth in the list, with women lacking confidence that authorities would investigate reports of abuse.
Paris came 11th, with those questioned saying they had little confidence that other passengers would help a woman in trouble.
New York was rated the best of the 16 cities, followed by Tokyo, the world's largest capital with 38 million people, then Beijing and London.
The study was commissioned by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, with a minimum of 380 responses from each city between August and September this year.
The female participants were asked six questions focussing on their experiences of travelling alone at night on buses, trains or trams.
They were asked about the risk of being verbally harassed by men, the risk of being groped or physically harassed, their trust in whether other passengers would assist a woman being abused, trust in authorities to investigate reports of sexual harassment or violence and the availability of safe public transport.
The YouGov survey of more than 6,550 women and gender experts ranked Peru's capital Lima as the third worst city when it came to women's safety on public transport
Mexico City, the world's third largest capital with 21 million people, fared worst when women were asked if they were at risk of verbal or physical abuse on public transport.
More than six out of 10 women in Mexico City, 64 percent, said they had experienced some type of physical harassment on public transport.
After the Latin American cities and Delhi, the fifth worst in the list was Jakarta, followed by Buenos Aires, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Moscow, Manila, Paris and Seoul.
By contrast only three out of 10 women surveyed in New York said they had suffered any kind of verbal or physical harassment while using the city's extensive subway system and buses.
After the Latin American cities, New Delhi was the next worst on the list of the world's largest cities with the most unsafe transport systems for women
The female participants were asked six questions focusing on their experiences of travelling alone at night on buses, trains or trams. Jakarta in Indonesia came fifth in the survey
Women in Moscow ranked the Russian capital as worst when it came to confidence in authorities investigating harassment.
Seoul in South Korea ranked 12th in the overall survey but fared worst when women were asked how confident they were that other passengers would assist a woman in trouble.
New York has transformed its subway and bus system in the past 25 years and the Metropolitan Transit Authority figures released this year showed subway usage at 1.7 billion in the preceding 12 months, the highest in 60 years.
The city was hailed for its growing network of CCTV security cameras on streets and transit lines, interactive Help Point communications kiosks, and obvious police presence.
Women in Moscow ranked the Russian capital as worst when it came to confidence in authorities investigating harassment
The study was commissioned by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, with a minimum of 380 responses from each city between August and September this year. Buenos Aires came sixth on the list
The Chow Kit monorail station in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia are among the countries who have introduced women-only sections on public transport along with Indonesia, Egypt and the Philippines
Tokyo was rated second for safety, which experts attributed to a raft of measures taken in the city in recent years to combat groping of women in often overcrowded buses and trains.
THE CITIES WITH THE MOST UNSAFE TRANSPORT SYSTEMS FOR WOMEN
1. Bogota, Colombia
2. Mexico City
3. Lima, Peru
4. New Delhi
5. Jakarta, Indonesia
6. Buenos Aires
7. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
8. Bangkok
9. Moscow
10. Manila, Philippines
11. Paris
12. Seoul
13. London
14. Beijing
15. Tokyo
16. New York
Source: YouGov
Tokyo was one of the first major capitals to introduce women-only trains in 2000, colour-coding these areas in pink with well-displayed signs and transit police to enforce rules.
Women-only sections on public transport are now also found in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Delhi, Cairo and Manila.
The survey questioned women from 15 of the United Nations list of 20 largest capitals six questions about their perception of safety on public transport.
Polling could not be conducted in five of the largest capitals - Cairo, Dhaka, Kinshasa, Tehran and Baghdad - due to conflict or YouGov and its polling partners being unable to guarantee the necessary online sample of women.
The US capital Washington DC was not included in the list of largest capitals, but New York was added to the survey to provide comparison as it is the United States' most populous city with more than 8.4million people.
Mary Crass, head of policy at the International Transport Forum, said it was worrying that women were scared to use public transport in some major cities.
'When there is not frequent, reliable, accessible transport, this can affect women and anyone's ability to access opportunity and notably employment in urban areas, which can make a big difference for women in particular,' she said.
New York's public transport system was rated as being the safest for women of the 16 cities surveyed, followed by Tokyo, the world's largest capital with 38 million people, then Beijing and London
London's transport system was rated among the safest for women among the world's largest cities
'Women tend to be more reliant on public transport, particularly in low income or middle-income countries, in emerging economies.'
The mayor of Bogota defended his administration's efforts to tackle high levels of sexual harassment of women on buses in the Colombian capital, following the results of the report being published.
Mayor Gustavo Petro said the number of reports of sexual assaults had declined 'dramatically' following a series of measure aimed at improving safety for women on the capital's main red bus system, known as TransMilenio.
'The strategy consists in units of trained undercover policewomen going into buses and stations during the day and seeing who is committing the assaults,' he said.
'Immediately, they are arrested. This strategy is to mitigate the risk of sexual harassment on TransMilenio and what's certain is that the results to date, since the strategy was implemented two-and-half months ago, show sexual harassment in terms of the number of reports filed has declined dramatically.'
By Simon Cable Daily Mail
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