1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. the case of

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

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

8. 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

9. Record characteristics of each ride

10. …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

11. Women-only cars are full of men

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

13. 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

14. 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

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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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?

20. 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?

21. It’s transport that is public, not my body