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Carrie Chan

Survey finds 42 per cent of victims received unwelcome advances while travelling by MTR

Two out of three women say they have been indecently assaulted on public transport, with most of the incidents occurring on the MTR and buses, according to a survey by a women's group.

Lam Ying-hing, organiser of Gutsy Women, which interviewed 406 women in September, said 271 respondents (66 per cent) revealed they had been subject to unwelcome advances from male passengers such as groping and rubbing up against their bodies.

Forty-two per cent of the victims said that they were assaulted on the MTR, while 38 per cent said the incidents happened on buses.

Only eight of the women said they had sought help from transport company staff.

'Most said in the survey that drivers and staff were indifferent to the assaults. The staff would either ignore the complaints or question whether the assaults were true. Some would even say that the respondents were disrupting their work,' she said.

Ms Lam said this was contrary to the railway and bus companies' policy that drivers and other staff should report cases to police.

'We sent letters to the major public transportation companies asking how they would tackle the cases. The MTR said station staff would report [the incident] to the police districts. Kowloon Motor Bus and New World First Bus said drivers would park the vehicle and call the police. KCRC did not give us a reply,' she said.

A KCRC spokesman said yesterday all drivers were instructed to contact control centres when passengers sought help.

The control centre would then call the police. There were occasions when the drivers would close the compartment's doors before the police arrived.

'But sexual assaults seem to be rare. We don't even have one case each month,' he said.

Ms Lam said fellow passengers seemed nonchalant about the assaults. Fewer than 10 of the victims had been assisted by passengers after being assaulted.

'About 28 per cent of victims said passengers pretended nothing had happened. Another 34 per cent of victims said witnesses would only stare at them,' she said.

The survey also found that only 194 of the victims had expressed their disapproval to the assaulters.

'Nearly half of them would only stare at the assaulters with hostility. Another 30 per cent would walk away or leave the vehicle,' she said.



'66pc of women groped on public transport'