Alone on the SkyTrain in Metro Vancouver, Canada: Women's digital stories help plan safe public transit

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Date
2017
Authors
Rogness, Krista
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Abstract
Women’s safety is a major concern worldwide in transit planning. In Metro Vancouver, the public has been questioning levels of safety on the public transit system TransLink. A blog, ‘Harassment on TransLink’, has compiled women’s personal stories of harassment on public transit. The blog has acted as an informal reporting strategy for women to share and vocalize their fears about transit. The blog has now helped propel the development of a smart phone app (created by TransLink), which allows riders to report harassment on transit. This case study analysis of the blog explores how social media can function as an alternative reporting tool for safety measures and policy on public transit. Through semi-structured interviews and a review of relevant literature and precedents, the voices of female riders have been analyzed to examine how social media has been and can be used to improve public transit planning for women’s safety.
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Keywords
Storytelling, Public transit, Safety, Women, Social media, Harassment
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