Chariot for Women, chariot of hope?

Another article I found discusses and highlights the level of harassment women experience as both riders and drivers.

Chariot for Women, founded by Michael Pelletz was made so they are able to enjoy commutes with drivers who are "less likely to hit on them and undergone a thorough vetting process" as a means to providing safer journeys for women. Unfortunately, great ploys such as Chariot for Women, SheRides etc are unable to develop and prosper to the effective movement they are wanting as

Much of what harassment women face on a day to day basis is not documented or highlighted. The fact we need to have a service so we can avoid men and their lack of composure is absurd.
Legal questions arise as a ploy in my opinion to yet again side with the patriarchal means of society. as a man, for your concern to be gender biases when women are constantly in a fret for their lives when in testing environments shows that the concern yet again has drawn away from the main focus and results in: MEN being men.
Unfortunately, great ploys such as Chariot for Women, SheRides etc are unable to develop and prosper to the effective movement; they are criticised and fault to controversy not to mention legal battles.

Males activists and drivers would rather create legal battles causing masses of legal fees in threat of suing as they are being 'discriminated against' when they are usually the perpetrators and therefore are unable to understand the victims' standpoint.

"everything becomes a battle of the sexes"

Hope to see more services that provide safer journeys with no elements fear and confidence in knowing you will be getting home safely. A "well intended" plan with a "solution to a problem which is way biggger than transportation".
Not a system where people are victim-claiming because they are not involved for once!!!!

Hanna!

Share:

Read More

Women only rides? Yay or nay? DEFO YAY

Harassment transport services have arisen and become more prevalent in recent years with the emergence of Uber and the 24 hour night tubes being initiated in London.

Women are key victims of sexual harassment and concerns about security have arisen with a number of safety features that mobilise creating a secure and trusted community when travelling.
I found this a really interesting feature and decided its something I should look further into as someone who has experienced some form of harassment on a public bus.

In Australia, women-only ridesharing has begun as a trend to allow ladies to use the service of carpooling and like the reassurance that they will be travelling safely without a doubt.

Katy Beaton who lives with disabilities discusses how ridesharing has lowered her anxiety of travelling outside and that arose with booking taxis.

Those who, for religious beliefs or just personal choices, who might not feel comfortable with the existing means are able to take the pressures of transportation and travelling in their own hands.

Apps like Safr are paving the way as "redefining ridesharing for women". I have to come to realise this as a means of female empowerment as it provides jobs for female drivers as they might feel uncomfortable working for companies like Uber and ViaVan as they are predominantly male sectors as seen historically in the preexisting connotation of the "cabbie" being a typical working-class, white Man.
Women make up less than 25% of drivers in the ride-sharing space with female riders being taken on 5% longer rides by "unscrupulous drivers"; Women are now able to work these flexible roles allowing it to be easier to fulfil the demands of being caregivers (mothers, wives) and a functional character in this neoliberal capitalist working environment. Unfortunately, these Apps and new initiatives have hit sail in countries like Australia and America but we are soon to see a successful project of the same quality on our Busy London streets!!!

Share:

Read More

Interview with another Driver

Hey everyone!

Since we were doing interviews with people in different modes of transport, I did mine with different drivers. As you could expect, this was very tricky as I only had 40 seconds or so each time I stopped at a red light hence the answers are quite fragmented and the questions have been asked to several different people!

Interview:

Q: Do you normally talk to other drivers at a red light?

A: 'What? No... bit of a weird question.'

Q: Yo, Do you like engaging with others when driving?

A: I was ignored.

Q: Do you think people should interact more with each other when driving?

A: ' No, that's stupid.'

At this point I was getting slightly concerned as my responses were rather abstract, to say the least, if not plain rude and therefore I thought of mixing up the questions a bit with friendlier ones.

Q: Yo, Nice car mate. How much did it cost?

A: ' Ahh, thanks bro. Yeah it cost me a couple of bags still' (Bags=Grand)

Q: Yo, nice day today isn't it?

A: 'Yeah it is.'

Q: What's with these traffic lights, honestly they take too long?

A: I know. Honestly, it's the government. They do it on purpose in order to stop people from driving.

The last one was the best answer in my opinion as it gave me a slight insight to how some people may believe that something as unimportant as a traffic light is purposefully set against them by a higher power in the country.

Overall, I would say it was good fun and slightly weird but worth it!

Share:

Read More

Hey everyone!

Sorry I’m going to miss today but one thing I can do while being ill in bed is make a petition! Some of us spoke about it last week and I thought there’s no harm in seeing how many signatures we can get. Hopefully we can get some support from this to help with our campaign. Please click here to view the petition and more importantly sign it yourselves!

Tasha

Share:

Read More

Lord Mayor Response

Hey Everyone!

Got some good news!
The Lord Mayors office got in back in touch with me and said she would be more than happy to meet up with us and take a couple of pics etc!

Just trying to finalise dates now and I'll keep everyone up to date!

Share:

Read More

TFL Anti Abuse Campaign

Our intervention is based on creating a friendly environment for train and bus drivers where they do not feel isolated but feel appreciated for the job they do. We aim to do this through a social media campaign called 'Say Hi' by using Instagram, Twitter, and also posters to spread awareness. With increasing numbers of abuse faced by TFL staff, i wanted to see if TFL were doing any work of their own to tackle the issue.

Here are some figures i found from the London Assembly for the amount of Physical violence on Train and Bus Drivers:

• 2012/13- 998
• 2013/14- 1,009
• 2014/15- 988
• 2015/16- 917
• 2016/17- 1,051

And these figures are only the reported violence and i bet there are more cases as some people would be scared to report anything!

This violence and abuse has led to TFL giving staff fake names to protect them from commuters that may stalk or harass them. This policy has been in place for 15 years and “An employee can make an application to his/her manager for their name to be replaced by an appropriate pseudonym containing a first and last name. The requirement is to wear name badges and the use of pseudonyms is for exceptional circumstances and a valid reason must be given. For example if the member of staff has a particularly unusual name which could lead to their identification outside of work.” (TFL Spokesperson). 

So TFL does recognise that passengers can be violent towards their staff. However, is letting them wear fake names enough? TFL have also created posters highlighting the issue of abuse on tube staff (pictured above). The poster is of a child's handwriting explaining a situation where someone has shouted at their parent and it had a lasting impact on them that even their child has noticed. These posters can be seen on public transport and therefore can be seen by its target audience, us commuters. I think it meets its objective of trying to reduce abuse towards staff and humanise the staff by providing a story we can empathise with. 

Taking all of this into consideration, i believe that while TFL is trying to tackle the issue, i don't agree it is going about it in the right direction. The posters are basically saying 'don't abuse me' which ultimately could lead to everyone ignoring the staff and their job would still be isolating and lonely for them. I believe the posters should work by encouraging positive communication with the staff such as "Say Hi" or "Get to Know Me". This is where our intervention comes in! 

Tasha

Share:

Read More

TFL change?

Hey everyone! Sorry I'm late to the blog!

As I was on my normal route getting to University this morning, I saw a slight difference in the way everyone’s interactions were with me. Although I do get on the train every day I still felt as if I could get research for our intervention as I am very observant and chatty. Whilst I was looking for ideas for this blog. As I am someone who recently started wearing the headscarf, for religious reasons I wondered how it was for TFL staff who follow religion protocol.  In essence, staff who wear evident clothing or items. In which, today as I was reading my book I looked up and saw a woman with the hijab in a blue, red, and white uniform. Indicating, she worked on the TFL. As per I was looking around and it was almost like the only people being stared at... was us? I was approaching Kennington which meant the next stop was Elephant & Castle. My stop.  By which I didn’t have enough time to ask her the curious questions that were wondering my mind or a picture. Was it always like that? Did she have to deal with constant stares and maybe even people on her work force having that very same experience?

Upon my journey, I decided to look up ‘TFL and Islamophobia’.

https://www.change.org/p/transport-for-london-commissioner-of-police-gurgaon-david-cameron-mp-boris-johnson-hate-crimes-should-not-be-tolerated-on-tfl-find-the-racist-islamophobe

It intrigued me to know that I had only realised how people would gaze at others because I was wearing a religious garment also. 

Everyone pays the exact maybe some more or less. I pay for zone 1-3 which is around 108 pounds. I think I deserve to not be looked at. Especially if I can tell I'm the only one being looked at.  I couldn’t imagine TFL workers and how they feel. My aim is making sure I speak to someone on my way home or tomorrow. Maybe there could be change at how TFL workers could be introduced maybe? Or other ways. I’ll try and get an interview in tomorrow. 

See ya 

Sabrina 

Share:

Read More