性骚扰使20%乘客感到不安全

One in five passengers on Metro trains and buses have recently felt unsafe due to sexual harassment or other forms of "unwanted sexual attention," according to new data.

A Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority survey of nearly 20,000 passengers on the sprawling bus and rail system asked whether they felt unsafe during the last month while riding Metro due to "unwanted touching, exposure, comments, or any other form of unwanted sexual behavior."

Traditionally, sexual harassment has been portrayed as more of a female issue. It affects everyone.- Metro employee Jeff Boberg

About 21% of rail passengers and 18% of bus passengers said yes. About 17% of bus riders and 13% of train riders said they felt unsafe while waiting at bus stops or train stations.

"This is something that we’re going to look at very carefully," Metro spokesman Paul Gonzales said.

Metro typically asks about safety in its customer surveys, which the agency has conducted at least once a year for more than a decade. But this is the first time passengers have been asked about sexual behavior, said Jeff Boberg, an agency transportation manager who works with data and research.

Metro employees distribute paper surveys, printed in English and Spanish, on every transit line at least once every six months, Boberg said. Translations in nine other languages are available online for the 5% of Metro riders who do not speak English or Spanish.

The sexual harassment question was prompted, in part, by a national discussion about safety on public transit that followed a fatal gang rape on a New Delhi bus in 2017, Boberg said. A study by London's transit agency the following year found that 15% of women riding transit there had experienced "unwanted sexual behavior," but 90% of them had not reported it,according to the Guardian.

Metro staff members who read stories online about such data realized they had very little comparable information, Boberg said, and decided to add the question to the most recent passenger survey. He added that Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti and his transportation staff also indicated they were interested.

One of the biggest surprises in the data was that men reported feeling unsafe because of sexual behavior nearly as often as women, Boberg said. About 18% of women felt unsafe, as opposed to 16% of men.

"Traditionally, sexual harassment has been portrayed as more of a female issue," Boberg said. "It affects everyone."

Gonzales said uniformed deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which patrols the Metro system, have begun boarding buses more frequently in recent weeks. "They're ostensibly there to perform fare inspections, but whenever a uniformed deputy is on board, it enhances safety in all respects," Gonzales said.

最新调查表明，大约20%的地铁和公交乘客表示因为性骚扰和其它“讨厌的性关注”感觉不安全。

洛杉矶县大都会运输局调查了将近2万公交和地铁乘客，询问在上个月乘坐地铁时，是否会因为“不必要的触摸，暴露，评论或者其他形式讨厌的性行为”而感到不安全。

传统上，性骚扰更多的是被描述为女性问题。但地铁员工杰夫·伯贝格表示它影响着每一个人。

约21%的地铁乘客和18%的公交乘客同意此观点。约17%的公交乘客和13%的地铁乘客说他们在公车站和地铁站等车的时候觉得不安全。

地铁发言人保罗·冈萨雷斯说道：“这是我们需要仔细注意的事。”

从事数据和研究的运输经理杰夫·伯贝格提到，消费者在地铁调查中常被问到安全问题，机构每年至少进行一次调查，且超过10年之久。但是这是第一次乘客被问道关于性行为的问题。

伯贝格还说，在每条运输路线上，至少每六个月，地铁员工会分发印刷成英语和西班牙语的调查问卷。其他九种语言版本会在网上提供给5%不会说英语和西班牙语的地铁乘客。

他表示，性骚扰问题被提出，一定程度上是因为2017年发生在新德里公交车上的一起致命轮奸案引起了国家对于在公共交通线上安全问题的讨论。《卫报》显示，第二年，伦敦公交公司调查发现15%的女性在公交上遇到“讨厌的性行为”，但是90%的人不会上报。

地铁员工在网上看到这些情况和数据后意识到他们没有什么可供对比的信息，伯贝格说道。他决定将这个问题加入到最近的乘客调查中。他补充道，洛杉矶市长艾瑞克·贾西提和运输部其他员工也表示对这个问题感兴趣。

数据中最令人惊奇的是男人因为性行为觉得不安全数接近女性，伯贝格说，大约18%的女性感到不安全，而男性也达到16%。

“传统上，性骚扰更多的被描述为女性问题，”伯贝格说，“它影响着每个人。”

冈萨雷斯说道，来自洛杉矶警察局警员在最近几周内已经开始频繁登车巡查。他们表面上执行车票检查，但只要有穿制服的警察在车上都会提高一定安全性。