ABSTRACT
This chapter reports the results of a survey on sexual transit crime with 309 university students in Huddinge (three-quarters of them women). Almost half of the respondents (48%) had experienced some kind of harassment or assault in transit environments. Of those who had been subjected to assault or harassment, only 18% had reported it, most commonly to the police, friends, or parents. More than a fourth of the students seldom or never felt safe going to or from the bus stop (29%) or station (28%) at night. For train riders, while 39% always felt safe during the day on the train or at the station, this dropped to 14% during nighttime on the train. The most common challenges encountered and reasons for avoiding the subway, bus, and commuter trains were the presence of drunk persons followed by sexual harassment. One quarter of female students indicated not using public transport as often as they would have liked because of sexual harassment. The chapter briefly summarizes the main findings from the case study and makes suggestions for research and practice.
