An increase in reported sexual offences on the Tube and bus network is “a positive sign” that more people are alerting the authorities when it happens, Transport for London (TfL) has said.
The rise in recorded offences has been accompanied by an increase in “bystander intervention” from passengers, which TfL credits to its poster campaign encouraging witnesses of sexual harassment to step in and “defuse” incidents.
Responding to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request on the topic, TfL said there were 2,671 sexual offences on the network reported to the police between February 2023 and January 2024, which was 10.5 per cent higher than the 2,418 offences in the previous 12 months.
The transport authority said that the “increase in reporting was anticipated” after the launch of its recent poster campaigns and is “a positive sign that the campaign is working, given that sexual harassment is significantly underreported”.
The period covered by the data also included an increase in total passenger numbers as part of the post-pandemic bounceback.
But TfL said: “Tracking research has not indicated any significant increase in incidents on the network, therefore the increase in number of reports is a positive sign that the campaign is helping to raise awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment and our zero tolerance approach to any form of abuse on our network.”
The first wave of posters was launched in October 2021, with each advert highlighting a different form of sexual harassment which can occur on public transport - including upskirting, cat-calling, cyber-flashing, inappropriate touching, exposing oneself, rubbing against someone on purpose, and intrusive staring of a sexual nature.
This was followed in January 2023 by a second phase to the campaign, encouraging bystanders to take action if they witness harassment against a fellow passenger - so long as it feels safe to do so.
One poster suggests that they “distract with a question” by approaching the person being targeted and asking them a question like ‘what’s the next stop?’ or ‘what’s the time?’, which can help to “defuse” an incident.
Another poster suggests making a note of the incident by documenting details of what the perpetrator looks like, what time of day it is, and what line it is happening on - which can all help the British Transport Police build up a profile of the offender.
“Our advertising is showing positive increases of bystander intervention,” said TfL in the FOI response.
“The proportion of Londoners agreeing that they have all the information they need to confidently intervene in an incident of sexual harassment on public transport rose from 53 per cent to 59 per cent between October 2022 (the first time it was measured) and March 2024.
“Over the same time, the proportion disagreeing fell from 24 per cent to just 14 per cent. This represents a positive increase, as changing reporting behaviours is challenging to shift.
“As well as this, 15 per cent of campaign recognisers claimed they have already reported or intervened as a result of seeing our advertising.”
TfL added that its advertising campaigns “are only one part of our expansive programme” to eliminate sexual harassment on public transport.
“Examples of key activities include an in-school education programme to year 9 students, women’s safety audits in town centres in five boroughs, rolling out sexual harassment training to all front-line staff and enforcement officers, rolling out crime reporting signage across the network as well as organisational changes including becoming a White Ribbon accredited organisation to foster a positive and safe organisational culture,” the authority said.
“The VAWG [violence against women and girls] programme builds on a strong foundation of safety and security measures that includes over 2,000 police and police community support officers, 500 TfL enforcement officers, an extensive CCTV network and 24/7 control centre.”
