Willing to pay to avoid harassment: Evidence from public transit in Rio de Janeiro Florence Kondylis, Arianna Legovini, Kate Vyborny and Astrid Zwager July 2017 Supported by the i2i, KCP, UFGE, T&I GP and Brazil CMU

Harassment in public transport is pervasive But it’s hard to understand the magnitude of the problem: underreporting makes statistics unreliable Harassment in public transport is pervasive

IT comes at Psychosocial & economic cost Reduce psychological wellbeing, induce stress, increase cortisol levels Affect labor decisions, job options, time of travel and destinations Segment markets along gender lines, professions IT comes at Psychosocial & economic cost

Hard to quantify incidence & impact Hawthorne effect: observation affects incidence, behavior This study works around it to quantify economic impact Hard to quantify incidence & impact

the case of

~1 in 8 metro cars reserved for women at rush hour 6:00-9:00 am 5:00-8:00 pm

Institutional collaboration (Supervia, WB TransportGP/Brazil CMU) Innovative data collection Phased approach to answer different questions Study Design

Innovative data collection: crowdsourcing preferences and experiences Recruited 300 Supervia riders: pay them to ride and report Contributors submit data through an android app Record origin/ destination

Record characteristics of each ride

…this is what they found A: Baseline mapping A team of contributors was dispatched across the transit system to map out male presence in women-only and mixed cars during rush hour … …this is what they found

Women-only cars are full of men

A lei não pega muito Average % of men in mixed car: 62% Women only car: 31%

Compliance IS LOW 60% of riders are male in mixed cars 30% of riders are male in women’s only cars Enforcing compliance is hard Compliance IS LOW

Incidence of harassment IS HIGH Verbal harassment in 6% of rides Physical harassment in 4% of rides or harassed once a week Riders reported 34-55% lower harassment in high compliance women’s cars Incidence of harassment IS HIGH

B: Randomized car assignment Riders are assigned to either: women-only or mixed car Record experience in the women’s vs. mixed car 15

RIDING in women-only cars CAN REDUCE HARASSMENT Verbal harassment reduced by 55% Physical harassment reduced by 34% RIDING in women-only cars CAN REDUCE HARASSMENT

C: Assign different payouts Reveal willingness to pay or economic value to riders Which car does the rider choose at baseline when payout is equal? Willing to give up money to ride the women’s car? VS

WOMEN willing to pay to avoid harassment about 84$ a year A third of riders are willing to pay to use the women’s cars WOMEN willing to pay to avoid harassment about 84$ a year

Does this study tell you the economic cost of harassment? We only estimate the cost to the women who use public transport What about those women who avoid it? Does this study tell you the economic cost of harassment?

Is this the way to eNd harassment? No Empower women to speak up and report Put social pressure on perpetrators (e.g. public shaming) Put social pressure on the public to intervene Train staff to intervene Is this the way to eNd harassment?

It’s transport that is public, not my body