Passengers were on Monday given advice on how to help fellow travellers they see suffering sexual harassment on the Tube or bus.
A poster and social media campaign advised them to attempt to cause a distraction by asking the victim “What’s the next stop?”, or “Do you have the time?”
The initiative comes after an 81 per cent increase in reported sexual harassment on public transport in London, the vast majority targeted at women and schoolgirls.
Concerns have also been expressed at the lack of on-board CCTV on the Central line, the worst line for reported incidents. Nor do the Piccadilly and Bakerloo line trains have CCTV.
Transport for London insists it is not asking passengers to police the network. There are more thanâ¯2,500 police and police community support officers and 500 TfL enforcement officers.
But it issued the advice after research by London TravelWatch found two-thirds of passengers wanted to know how to help. It hopes to create an “active bystanders” culture that supports victims and leads to more incidents being reported.
Other advice includes making a note of what happened to help the police build a profile of the perpetrator, or offering support after an incident ends. This can involve checking with the victim by asking “Are you OK?”, or telling them: “What happened isn’t OK.”
Earlier this month the Standard revealed that overall crime rates on public transport in London were higher than before the pandemic - up eight per cent on the pre-Covid average despite 21 per cent fewer passengers.
Between October 2021 and September 2022, there were 2,361 sexual harassment offences on the TfL network reported to the police. This compares to 1,302 reported in the same period the year before, an 81 per cent increase.
Monday’s campaign builds on a campaign last year that is believed to have encouraged more women to report harassment.
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s director of security, policing and enforcement, said: “We operate a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of sexual harassmentâ¯on London’s public transport network and are absolutely committed to ensuring that women and girls are, and feel, safe.
“We’re not asking customers to police the network, that’s our job working alongside the police, but we do know that customers also want to look out for and support one another if something doesn’t feel right.
“Small actions can make a huge difference and any reports help us to take action against offenders and put the right measures in place to prevent it from happening.”
Detective Chief Inspector Nia Mellor, of British Transport Police, said: “Everyone has a part to play in driving out this unacceptable behaviour, and small actions such as offering someone your seat if you notice them looking uncomfortable, or reporting an incident to us can make an enormous difference.
“Your reports provide us with crucial information which helps us build a picture of what’s happening on the network so we can identify crime hotspots, deploy patrols to catch offenders, and crucially bring them to justice.”
Sexual harassment can include rubbing, groping, masturbation, leering, sexual comments, indecent acts, or someone taking photos or filming without consent.
Incidents can be reported on the Met police website, by texting British Transport Police on 61016 or by using the BTP Railway Guardian app.
