Women pay more for transit to avoid harassment, NYU study says

AP
Photo/Mark Lennihan

• Women pay more to get around New York City in order to avoid
  harassment, an NYU study has found.
• On average, women paid up to $50 more than men, who paid no
  extra money to avoid similar incidents. 
• The center suggests more designated pickup locations with
  adequate lighting and employer-subsidized trips to help with the
  problem. 

Women pay an average of $26-$50 more than men on transit each
month,
a new study has found, because of safety and abuse issues
they face on a day-to-day basis.

Researchers at NYU’s Rudin Center for Transportation asked 547
New Yorkers about their commuting habits and budgeting to gauge
harassment they are victims of, and any steps people take to
avoid it. Their findings show that the colloquial ‘pink
tax’ — or premiums women pay on every day items — isn’t just
limited to the checkout line, but also finds its way into getting
around the city. 

According to the study, 75% of women said they had experienced
some form of harassment on pubic transit, while less than half of
male respondents answered similarly. That statistic fits nicely
with the study’s finding that a similarly high proportion of taxi
and for-hire car trips were for female riders. 

“For late night travel, most respondents feel safest using
for-hire vehicles (42%),” study authors Sarah Kaufmann,
Christopher Polack and Gloria Campbell write. “followed by taxis
(16%), and then public transportation (15%).”

It seems intuitive that a car would be safer than a sparsely
ridden late-night train home, but even New York City Transit’s
efforts to curb harassment and attacks in the system seem to have
little effect, according to selected responses published by the
researchers.

“After waiting in line to speak with the person in the booth,”
one person who did report to authorities said, “a train passed
through the station, so I was told the person who harassed me had
probably already left and it wasn’t worth calling the police. I
then took a cab home.”

Then there’s the issue of child care.

On an increasingly crowded subway, traveling with children may
not be ideal for caretakers. “Even as an able-bodied person,” one
respondent wrote, “it is REALLY hard to get around the city with
children.”

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“We estimate that the Pink Tax on women caregivers in New York
City can reach up to $100 per month in addition to regular travel
expenses,” said the researchers.

To be sure, a significant proportion of responses in the survey
came from affluent neighborhoods of New York City, including the
Upper West Side and Park Slope. Ninety-four percent of
respondents have a college degree or higher — more than three
times the national average — the researchers said, which
could affect their data and added to a disproportionate amount of
subway riders on lines through those neighborhoods.

The researchers plan to conduct another survey, that “will aim at
a more diverse user base to provide a wider range of
experiences.”

Based on the first round of results, the center has proposed
“well-lit for-hire vehicle pickup points,” like Uber now provides
in some locations, as well as subsidized work-railed rides like
Lyft currently provides in Michigan and Medford, NJ.

“Conclusion: Women are more likely than men to change their
behavior in order to avoid harassment,” the study said.