Paris is taking significant measures to tackle sexual harassment on its public transport.
Beginning in February, a total of ten key bus lines in the city will at night allow passengers to get off in between stops so they can be closer to their destinations.
The option will be available to men and women and has been supported by the president of the greater Paris region of Île-de-France, Valérie Pécresse.
Stating that Parisian women in particular have requested the change, she added: “The interest is to avoid these attacks that take place on the way home.”
In the same interview – which she gave to Radio France – Pécresse furthermore revealed that she’d like to see the move rolled out across all bus lines in Paris.
The city is also hiring 650 additional safety monitors to ride different forms of public transportation in plain clothes. And video surveillance equipment will be installed on all buses and train carriages by 2020.
In France, more than 220,000 women said they were sexually harassed on public transportation over the past two years; Pécresse said that she was sexually assaulted on public transit just last week.
“We cannot stand idly by while a woman is being attacked,” she added.
For night buses in Irish cities, we’d absolutely love to see something similar implemented.
