Fear Factor:

How scary are bus stops?

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris can size up a bus stop in Los Angeles almost instantly and pretty well tell if a woman will feel safe waiting there or not. Litter, broken glass and discarded beer cans are bad signs. Liquor stores, check-cashing establishments, pawnshops, vacant buildings or fenced lots in the vicinity send up red flags. And alarm bells go off if she spies an alleyway where someone could be lurking or if there is no opportunity for surveillance from surrounding establishments.

Several years ago, Loukaitou-Sideris, Professor and Chair of UCLA's Department of Urban Planning, and colleague Robin Liggett surveyed bus passengers and examined 120 bus stops in the city's downtown and surrounding areas.  "We looked at statistics and did some regression analysis, and we found some significant links between certain environmental attributes and crime," Loukaitou-Sideris said in a recent interview.

Crime rates at bus stops were higher in areas with alleys and midblock passages—which provide quick getaways for criminals—as well as near multifamily housing, liquor stores, check-cashing businesses and alleys. Narrowness, darkness, lack of ground floor activities, lack of windows opening up onto a street or public area make these environments more susceptible to crime. "Depending on the built environment around them, bus stops a block apart on the same route could be very different in terms of their safety."

True Crime?

Yet statistics showed that women's high levels of fear of crime did not seem justified by actual crime statistics. The disconnect, she discovered, resulted from the types of crimes committed against women at bus stops and their reluctance to report them. "There had been one rape and some armed robberies—which are very serious, but most of the crime taking place was …drunkenness, groping, people mumbling obscenities."

These types of crimes are infrequently investigated because they are rarely reported, in part because women are embarrassed about them or don't believe it will do any good to report them. In addition, in Los Angeles many women using buses are undocumented workers who fear interaction with the authorities. Yet these public offenses are scary for women, says Loukaitou-Sideris, and have the effect of making transit use unpleasant and undesirable. "Imagine if you're the only person waiting for a bus and someone next to you is mumbling obscenities—it's very threatening."

"If we want more people to use transit—including young women who are not driving yet--… if they're able to get on the bus or a train with no fear, that would be a tremendous help for them." For this reason, good design can make a big difference for real and perceived safety, she says.

"If someone is fearful, she will not use transit if there are any other options."

In November 2004 Loukaitou-Sideris was invited by UC Davis Associate Professor Susan Handy to present her findings at the Transportation Research Board's third Conference on Research on Women's Issues in Transportation, which was held in Chicago. Handy was one of four committee members chosen to assume responsibility as a topic leader and to choose speakers.

The report Loukaitou-Sideris presented, "Is it Safe to Walk Here?", examines in detail women's fear of public parks as well as bus stops and how it affects their travel patterns and use of certain public spaces.

"Compared to men, women are far more fearful…and if someone is very fearful she will not use transit if there are any other options," she wrote. According to her surveys, 59 percent of women felt unsafe waiting for their bus compared with 41 percent of men.

Her paper also suggests ways to prevent crime in public spaces like bus stops. These include keeping buildings free of graffiti and litter, keeping the bus stop's immediate environment clean and well-lit, elimination of "negative land uses" such as liquor stores, seedy motels, bars, adult bookstores and check-cashing establishments, and orienting buildings with windows or storefronts facing the street, which increases the possibility and perception of surveillance.

Answers Abroad?

As a result of the report she wrote for the TRB conference, Loukaitou-Sideris has embarked on another project aimed at learning what strategies and programs neighborhoods, municipalities and cities in other countries have established to address concerns by women about safety and the built environment.  With a grant from UCTC, she will examine programs in Canada, Britain, and Australia where programs to make women safer have been initiated.

"My view is that transit agencies in these countries have more thoroughly thought about the needs of women passengers  than agencies here," she said.

"What I hope to find out is what type of policy and design measures traffic agencies and transportation authorities are putting in place to make travel less threatening for women, and what is their effectiveness. What types of changes do women desire to feel safer? Is the safety of women travelers a distinct concern of transportation agencies? What lessons can we learn from these programs that are in effect? Are there best practices for transportation agencies in the U.S.?"

Bus stop photo courtesy Carolyn McAndrews, ITS Berkeley grad student.