History
2007
Community-based organizations partnered with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to develop and distribute a survey of women-identified subway riders to determine the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault in the New York City Subway system. The findings were released in a report entitled Hidden in Plain Sight: Sexual Harassment and Assault in the New York City Subway System. Of the 1,780 respondents, 63% reported having experienced sexual harassment, and 10% reported having been sexually assaulted, while riding the New York City subway. The vast majority of victims—96% and 86%, respectively—did not report the incidents to or seek assistance from the authorities. The report and its recommendations to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on how to increase riders’ safety were publicized at a press conference in July, at which NYFST founding member Oraia Reid, Executive Director of RightRides for Women’s Safety, was selected to speak.
2008
Community-based organizations strategically aligned with New York City Council Member Peter Vallone and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to call on the MTA to begin running a public awareness campaign that had been created in 2007, based on the recommendations in Hidden in Plain Sight. The MTA had shelved the campaign on the unfounded fear that it would provoke offenders to act. In response to the community mobilization efforts, the MTA agreed to release the public awareness campaign, distributing 2,000 posters in 300 subway cars that read: “Sexual Harassment is a Crime in the subway, too — A crowded train is no excuse for an improper touch. Don’t stand for it or feel ashamed, or be afraid to speak up. Report it to an M.T.A. employee or police officer.”
The same month that the MTA’s anti-sexual harassment print campaign launched, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer testified at a hearing called by the New York City Council’s transportation committee entitled “MTA complaint process – Are average riders heard?” Stringer called on the Transportation Committee to: 1) work with the MTA to develop a system that could field harassment and assault complaints and quantify the number of complaints fielded by 311, 911, and transit authorities in the stations; 2) work with the NYPD to track subway sexual harassment and assault crimes across time, borough, subway line, and station, and make these statistics publicly available; 3) amend the MTA’s rider report card to request respondent disclose their gender in order to determine whether women feel more or less safe in the subway than men; and 4) require the MTA introduce and upgrade safety amenities throughout the transit network, including increasing the number of personnel on subways and better training employees who may field complaints about harassment and assault.
2009
New Yorkers for Safe Transit is founded by RightRides for Women’s Safety, Girls for Gender Equity, and HollabackNYC. Core Members convened for a day-long strategy planning session to lay down the groundwork for the coalition regarding the name, mission, vision, guiding principles, structure, and strategic actions taken in 2009. These actions include:
1) Supporting the replication of the MTA’s anti-sexual harassment print campaign as audio public service announcements, which are heard on subways and buses throughout the mass transit system.
2) Organizing a citywide Listening Tour, a community base-building and dialogues project with various nonprofit agencies serving women, youth, elders, and LGBTQ, POC, and low-income communities, to capture diverse experiences of gender-based violence in mass transit while providing participants with a safe space to share their stories, gain support from other survivors, and propose strategies to increase safety in mass transit.
3) Holding a public forum, Take Back Public Transit, to enable concerned community members and anti-violence activists to analyze the rampancy of gender-based violence in the New York City public transit system and discuss strategies to avoid, deescalate, and prevent harassment and assault on subways and buses.
4) Testifying at a joint hearing called by the New York City Council Transportation, Women’s Issues, and Safety Committees. Oraia Reid and Meghan Huppuch, Director of Community Organizing at Girls for Gender Equity gave testimony in support of a bill spearheaded by Council Member Jessica Lappin that would require NYPD to collect data on sexual harassment in the subways.
2010
The Anti-Violence Project, The Ali Forney Center, Center for Anti-Violence Education, and Transport Workers Union Local 100 join New Yorkers for Safe Transit as Core Members. Core Members reevaluated the goals set forth by the founding members and established a five-point, comprehensive approach to challenge the normalization of gender-based violence in public transit and pursue policy change and community responses that will create a more equitable mass transit system:
• Public Awareness Raising
• Safety Education Trainings
• Leadership Building & Mobilization
• Policy Advocacy
• Strategic Communications
Actions include:
1) Supporting the efforts of the transit workers to stop the MTA from eliminating jobs, reducing late-night subway service in marginalized neighborhoods, and closing booths in the stations.
2) Testifying at the first-ever hearing on street harassment called by the New York City Council Women’s Issues Committee that garnered the attention of media outlets internationally. We requested the City Council take action by supporting the efforts of grassroots organizers who are on the frontlines of social justice work.
3) Speaking at the Critical Intersections: Reproductive and Economic Justice conference, organized by the New York Women’s Foundation and Barnard Center for Research on Women; the RISE Conference; and the Feminist Responses to Street Harassment panel at Barnard.
4) Meeting with City Council policy analysts to discuss strategies for ending gender-based violence in mass transit.
5) Holding our first Outreach Day to disseminate information to the riding public about gender-based violence in mass transit.
6) Getting information about how to report sexual harassment included in the MTA Student MetroCard Brochures, which are distributed to every student who attends the NYC public schools.
2011 – 2012
The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault joins New Yorkers for Safe Transit as a Safe Transit Ally.
Actions include:
1) Holding Outreach Days to disseminate information to the riding public about gender-based violence in mass transit.
2) Mass transit Self Defense Class co-organized with NYFST Core Member Center for Anti-Violence Education.
3) Co-sponsoring two Town Hall Meetings & Community Forums on Mass Transit which brought together concerned community members, various community-based organizations and elected officials to discuss transit equity across the spectrum of intersecting issues such as affordability, access, safety and reliability.
4) Receiving letters of support, from Council Members Peter Vallone Jr. and Jimmy Van Bramer.
