Talk about transit safety

OC Transpo’s silence after a woman was attacked at Blair station has gone on too long,

Early one Sunday morning this month, a woman was waiting for a bus at Blair station. Police say four men approached her and offered her money for sex, which she refused. They threatened her and led her to a nearby secluded area, where she was assaulted and robbed.

There are two ways OC Transpo could respond to this story. It could do an in-depth and transparent examination of safety in Ottawa’s transit system. Its leadership, and concerned councillors, could address community concerns. OC Transpo could work closely with community groups to understand what women experience when they use that system, and to improve safety where possible.

Or, it could issue the bare minimum of information, to distance itself from the story as much as possible, in the hopes that reporters will just go away.

So far, OC Transpo seems to be taking the second approach. A safety and security update is planned for Wednesday’s transit commission meeting. In the meantime, the Citizen’s reporter, Derek Spalding, has asked for interviews, to no avail. Instead, communications staff send out written statements. Defaulting to talking points is poor communications strategy at the best of times, but when there’s been an attack like this, it’s disrespectful to the community. Of course no one expects OC Transpo to comment on the details of an alleged crime, but it is fair to expect the organization to grant an interview to a reporter who has general questions about security. OC Transpo already considers safety in the design of its stations, but without a frank, ongoing community discussion, it’s hard to know whether there is more Ottawa could do to make transit users less vulnerable.

Groups such as Hollaback Ottawa have been saying for some time that there could be ways to improve safety on the transit system. In a survey Hollaback released this summer, more than half of the incidents of harassment or assault happened on a bus, at a bus stop, or near a transit station.

OC Transpo’s figures suggest only 14 reported sexual assaults in 2012. If there’s a gap between the reported and unreported assaults, Ottawa needs to understand those numbers and what they mean. The fact that the assault seems to have happened off OC Transpo property is irrelevant; that’s where it began. Ottawa doesn’t need OC Transpo to control the message or take refuge in technicalities. It needs a transit system where every user can feel safe.