Asian women’s experience of fear of crime on public transportation in Metro Vancouver

Abstract

There is an absence in the current criminological literature of peer-reviewed studies examining fear of crime on public transportation in Canada. More specifically, few studies have examined fear of crime on public transportation governed by TransLink in Metro Vancouver. This qualitative study involved 12 semi-structured, in-depth interviews to explore how Asian women experience fear of crime on public transportation in Metro Vancouver. The data were analyzed and coded inductively with three key themes emerging from the data. First, the majority of the participants indicated that they overall felt safe on public transportation. Second, participants explained various factors that increase their feelings of safety on public transportation, including transit locations with strong visibility and lighting, the presence of Transit Officials, and the transit station itself. Participants noted specific factors that decrease their feelings of safety, including travelling at night and being female. The findings provide key policy recommendations for TransLink: first, to improve their safety features on buses to be more aligned with SkyTrain safety features; and second, to improve visibility and lighting at SkyTrain and bus stations in accordance with Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles.