Improving the safety for women and girls on public transport

Improving safety with environmental design

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) (College of Policing, 2017) is the idea that improving the environment can reduce the possibility of crime. Small adjustments like transparent bus stops (Ding et al., 2020) or moving bus stops to better lit locations with more natural surveillance can influence perceptions of safety (Beebeejaun, 2017). Other practical aspects of the transport environment that influence the perception of safety in public spaces include: lack of lighting (Gekoski et al., 2015), lack of network coverage (Transport Scotland, 2023), visible staffing (Gekoski et al., 2015, Gray, et al., 2015, Transport for West Midlands, 2022), the ebb and flow of passengers (Gardner, Cui and Coiacetto 2017, TravelWatch, 2021; Transport Scotland, 2023) and the use of CCTV (Lorenc et al., 2013; Loukaitou-Sideris 2009).

While CPTED and urban planning have a part to play in making women and girls feel safer in public spaces, feminist scholars argue that there are limits to how much this can deter sexual crimes. Koskela and Pain (2000) posit that crime needs to be understood in terms of wider structural gender inequalities and patriarchy (Koskela and Pain 2000). Literature around CPTED often negates the fact that women experience public spaces differently than men and some suggest that CPTED needs to adopt a gender lens (Ison & Matthewson, 2023). Feminist urbanism (Hayden, 1980) is a theory that posits that urban planners need to re-think the design of public spaces to make them more inclusive for everyone. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh have been declared ‘feminist cities’ recognising that gender should be a central aspect of planning, design, policy and budgeting (Engender, 2023). The International Transport Forum (2022) and the World Bank have developed toolkits for transport providers to be able to carry out gender analysis on public transport. However, gender analysis requires that there is gender disaggregated data in the first place. The International Transport Forum (2018) recognises that there is a lack of disaggregated data on public transport and there are also data gaps in how sexual harassment is experienced by different groups (Ding et al., 2020). The use of personal safety apps could potentially help bridge this data gap.

Improving safety with technologies

Technology can play a role in preventing incidents, improving safeguarding, signposting to support organisations, aiding communication, providing reporting mechanisms and information sharing amongst professionals (Transport for West Midlands, 2022). Technologies to tackle VAWG include the use of body worn cameras for monitoring purposes, the use of real time information to reduce waiting times (Loukaitou-Sideris, 2016; Transport for West Midlands, 2022), passenger assist alarms on trains (TravelWatch, 2021) and publicly available databases on sex offenders (Maxwell et al., 2020). More recent developments include the use of wearable communication technologies (White & McMillan, 2020) and personal safety apps (McCarthy et al., 2016).

Wearable communication technologies

There has been an increase in the number of wearable devices to prevent gender-based violence in recent years (White & McMillan, 2020). Devices like the ROAR panic button or the Athena pin are wearable alarms which, when activated, message the user’s location to designated contacts. Other wearable devices include smart jewellery (Inviswear.com, 2023) like the Flare bracelet (Getflare.com, 2023) which acts as a panic alarm to alert emergency contacts. Many of these technologies connect to smartphones like the SPOT wristband which connects to an app and alerts others if they identify a problem (White & McMillan 2020). Smart watch technology is increasingly being used to enhance safety also. The Epowar app was developed by the University of Bath and works in conjunction with smartwatch technology to alert emergency contacts if it detects that a woman is in distress. According to the website, the app can tell the difference between a heart rate increase due to exercise and an adrenaline spike (Epowar, 2023). Other examples include the Spacetalk smartwatch, aimed at families, which has an SOS alert function and a ‘safe zones’, function which alerts emergency contacts when the user leaves a pre-determined geo-fenced area (Spacetalk, 2023).

Personal safety apps

It is estimated that 94% of adults in the UK own a smartphone (Statista, 2023). The proliferation of smart phone ownership has coincided with a surge in the number of available apps. In the first six months of 2023, there were 77 billion downloads of mobile apps (Statista, 2023). In the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of apps aimed at enhancing the personal safety of women and girls (McCarthy et al. 2016; Maxwell et al., 2020). There appears to have been a spike in interest in the use of apps in the UK over the past few years. In the week following the killing of Sarah Everard in 2021, the WalkSafe app had more than 300,000 downloads, compared to just 2000 downloads in the previous week (WalkSafe, 2021). Increased engagement with apps appears to coincide with high profile media stories involving attacks on women in public spaces.

The purpose of personal safety apps is to enhance the safety of women and girls; however, it is important to note that there is no universal definition because of the wide variety of apps available. A search on The Apple Store and Google Play in 2022 returned 505 personal safety apps and 243 of these were focussed on public safety (Maxwell et al., 2020). Personal safety apps do not have one universal purpose, rather they have multiple purposes. Some apps are for the use during an emergency to raise an alarm, while others use Global Positioning System (GPS) to track users or to signpost users to support organisations. Apps can also be used for reporting purposes to identify hotspots or to collect audio and video evidence of harassment (Gekoski et al., 2015). Similarly, apps work in conjunction with a variety of different people: some use a network of friends and family, while others connect with centralised control rooms, emergency services, transport providers or a network of volunteers.

The use of apps to tackle VAWG have been supported by organisations like The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The British government recommends that women who are experiencing domestic abuse use the Bright Sky App (Hestia.org, 2023), which allows users to record evidence of their abusive relationship and seek help from professionals. Similarly, the Scottish government endorses the use of the FollowItApp (Followitapp.org, 2023), which was developed by Rape Crisis Scotland and the Scottish Women’s Right Centre, allowing women to record and keep a secure record of incidents of stalking. The Scottish government, Young Scot and Victim Support Scotland all recommend the use of the Hollie Guard app (Hollieguard.com, 2023), which alerts emergency contacts to the user’s location when activated. Despite this proliferation, few apps have been adopted worldwide pointing to a need to be culturally specific and responsive to local contexts (O’Campo et al., 2021). With the exception of the Railway Guardian app, which works across Scotland, Wales and England (National Rail, 2023), personal safety apps have not been rolled out at a national level. At local authority level in England, there are several examples of the use of the personal safety app WalkSafe, which according to its website, has over 500,000 downloads (WalkSafe, 2023). The WalkSafe app was first adopted in Bradford city in 2023 and has since been adopted by the Leeds City Council, allowing users to plan safe routes home and to share their locations with friends and family. The app has also partnered with organisations like Airbnb, Budweiser and Admiral, the largest operator of adult gaming centres (WalkSafe, 2023).