This blog/website is the cornerstone of a multi-phase project created in direct relation to the City of Vancouver’s Healthy City Strategy, most specifically their sixth (“Getting Around”) and eleventh (“Being and Feeling Safe and Included”) draft goals. It is the belief of this site’s creators that harassment of a sexual or gender-based nature is a legitimate problem for TransLink customers, and that self-identified women are overrepresented as recipients of this harassment. We believe that harassment (and, consequently, the ever-present threat of it) has a significant, demonstrably negative impact on the way women and people of other marginalized gender and sexual identities plan and utilize transportation in Metro Vancouver.
Our hope is to compile stories of these experiences to demonstrate the reality and severity of this particular issue to TransLink and the City of Vancouver. Once this has been accomplished, we hope to have their support in forming a response strategy to make transit usage safer and more inclusive for all riders.
Harassment on Translink 
Great project. I had no idea so many women had experienced such horrible things in their commute. Way to go for creating a space to make this known.
This is so incredibly refreshing to feel that our stories and experiences are being heard and validated. Thanks!!
Thank you a million times for this site. I wrote a post about you two and I hope the project goes well. http://melissafong.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/harassment-on-translink/
Thanks for doing that, Melissa! We really appreciate the support and your site looks great.
I really hope this will pressure Greater Vancouver to take sexual harassment on transit more seriously – look at how many women admit to avoiding public transit because they’re afraid of sexual harassment. Meanwhile, most Skytrain security, etc. will simply say, “Ok, well they’re gone, forget about it,” which is incredibly insulting to young women like myself who legitimately experienced a threat to their well-being. Downplaying sexual harassment on transit is completely unacceptable, and I applaud you for providing a forum for people (not necessarily just young women – but everyone) to share their stories. Hopefully a compilation of experiences will be capable of influencing action.
It’s gotten so bad that I don’t ride transit at night alone at all; bus or skytrain. It’s just too creepy. I often pay for a cab home rather than get on the train if it’s later. If I have to ride the train or bus late, I usually make sure I have at least 1 or 2 people with me and usually a guy.
One of the many safety-related reasons it can be more expensive to be a woman.
Agreed. I would take a cab home before I took the Night Bus.
I read some of the stories, and those men should not behave like this in public place. It is completely inappropriate to invade into people’s personal spaces and make comments or inappropriately touch someone. I just cannot believe people do stuff like this on transit.
I do have one suggestion though for everyone – I suggest everyone just drive and don’t ride the bus again.
That isn’t always a possibility though. As a student, I don’t have the money to pay for a car and insurance and gas, so I have to transit in to school daily from the valley.
Furthermore, the point of this should not be to change the behaviour of the women being harassed. The focus should be on changing the behaviour of the harasser.
Women have an equal right to use transit and should have an equal right to feeling safe. That should be our focus, not on further limiting areas were women “belong”.
Also, I like the idea of public transit. It’s more environmentally friendly and helps a city come alive. I would love to see public transit flourish, not fall into disuse.
I apologize on behalf of all mankind for this behaviour. These “men” should really be rounded up ostracized.
Thank you for making this blog. We need to stand together as a community when we see harassment in our public spaces. My only advice for people who receive unwanted harassment is to leave the seat and approach a stranger and ask to sit beside them because the other person is being a creep, hopefully they are guided by their morals more than their sexual drive and abuse of power.
It’s incredible the amount stories that are coming out on sexual harassment on Translink. Where is the money going for security? Oh right, to checking for ticket fraud…
What is also excellent to see that this is an open forum, where any and all are able to share their stories. It would be counter intuitive of this project to limit these experiences to only women, as I’ve already seen stories of unwanted sexual harassment of men on here. Hopefully, even men who have felt themselves harassed will be able to feel safe sharing their stories with others.
That’s actually a really interesting point, Jason- The allocation of financial resources- hopefully the awareness this project brings about will help Translink reassess priorities!
I honestly can’t believe it’s taken this long to have this opportunity for women to voice their harassment and experiences on transit. Why didn’t Translink solicit stories or information? Did they not know the problem exists? If that is the case, it’s even more problematic since bus drivers and security people witness these incidences and don’t report.
Not taking transit was not a choice for me until recently, and even then I still take transit to my occasional forays downtown as I couldn’t be bothered to drive or I am going to be drinking. However, it doesn’t make me feel good that even my once a month venture on transit results in yelling at someone or wanting to yell at someone.
Wish there was a blog like this for every city. I live in Victoria and have had more than my fair share of leers, unwanted attention and public masturbation incidents.
I’m writing a paper on uneasiness in public transit (both in terms of being harrassed and feeling awkward), and information about and from this blog will make up a significant portion of my paper. Thank you for giving people a place to tell their stories – sounds like some people have been waiting a long time for something like this. I’ve always heard about gender- and sexuality-based violence, but have heard few specific examples, which is why this blog is so great.
If you have any more information on the blog – who the creators are, what the initial push was for you to decide to make the blog, and how you plan to use the stories to form a response strategy – please email me! srjohnst@sfu.ca. (The paper’s due next Tuesday XD haha so a fast reply would be much appreciated!)
Have just tweeted @TransitPolice to suggest there is a link here or a separate page for their suggestions regarding strategies for folks needing guidelines about being safer on Transit in Metro Vancouver. Also, you do not list the phone number for Transit Police, – non emergency # 604-515-8300, emergency is 911 always, and the text # 87-77-77.
Perhaps rather than just having a place here for comments about harassment, you could have ideas for pro-action too. Like links to self defence courses, the information I have just put above for contacting if needing assistance or emergency help.
Also the guidelines for contacting: Many comments here are of harassment but there is great hesitancy in getting any assistance or complaining at all, could be outlined on this website.
Even a comment I just read about a woman having her hair pulled out and she did nothing.
So, how about putting some more work into this website and making it pro-active too.
Thanks.