The Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system has been a hit since it recently opened to the public, averaging over 82,000 passengers per day in its first month of commercial operation. But those increasingly crowded train carriages bring also, unfortunately, mean an increased risk of sexual harassment for women.
Jakarta MRT announced this morning via social media that they have begun implementing women’s only carriages at the front of each train during morning and evening rush hours.
Untuk meningkatkan kenyamanan bagi penumpang wanita MRT Jakarta, khususnya pada saat jam sibuk di pagi dan sore hari, saat ini telah disediakan kereta khusus wanita. Kereta tersebut hanya tersedia di kereta paling depan pada hari kerja yaitu pukul 07.00 – 09.00 dan 17.00 – 19.00. pic.twitter.com/qa5g9hxFz0
— MRT Jakarta (@mrtjakarta) May 2, 2019
To increase the comfort for female passengers on the Jakarta MRT, especially during rush hour in the morning and evening, women-only carriages are now available. Those carriages are only available at the front of each train on weekdays from 7:00am – 9:00am and 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Both the TransJakarta busway and KRL Commuterline have tried implementing areas specifically for women, with varying levels of success.
In December, MRT Jakarta launched a survey asking for input from women on whether they should implement carriages just for women.
A 2014 survey found that women felt Jakarta’s public transportation system was one of the most dangerous in the world. A good deal of the capital’s public transport infrastructure has been updated since then, but how much attitudes towards sexual harassment have changed over that same period is much harder to say.
