Request Stop Program

Nyktos

This is a program in Toronto public transit where women riding buses alone at night are allowed to request to get off the bus between stops. The idea is to protect people, which is obviously commendable, but is there really any reason for it to be gender-segregated like that? It's not as though men don't get mugged. I have no doubt women are more at risk, but what possible harm could come from allowing men to use the thing?

ClockworkUniverse

Wait, so only women can do it? Is there any point to not letting men?

Nyktos

Yes and, as far as I can tell, no.

LouieW

I agree that that is sexist.

I guess the reason for having gender segregation like that may be to try to stop sexual assault or the like. If that is the case then I think the reason for not letting men have the same ability to get off between stops would be to stop a woman from being pursued by a man who was being hostile to her or making her uncomfortable. I have seen somewhat similar reason employed to justify having "women (and children) only" cars in trains.

Now, I am not necessarily saying  I agree with that policy, just that I might understand why it exists. There is always the distinct possibility that I am wrong though.

Nyktos

I dunno how much that makes sense. It's a request stop for a reason. If a woman says "Let me off here, my house is around the corner" and then some dude is like "Uh...let me off here, too", it's going to look pretty sketchy.

ClockworkUniverse

Yeah. I think if they only agreed to let individuals or groups who are together off at once, it would work fine.

Nyktos

It currently only allows women who are travelling alone to use it anyway.

Tnophelia

Hmmmm...I can see the appeal of it. If I was alone on the bus, and there was a sketchy man waiting to get off, I wouldn't mind being let off the bus early. He could use the bus stop as an excuse to follow me home and what not, but if he asks to get off at my requested stop area, suspicions would be raised.

ClockworkUniverse

Indeed. I like it as a general idea, but I don't like that only women can do it.

LouieW

I think Tnophelia brings up a good point. I suppose it would be a lot easier to follow someone if that person got off at a bus stop then if that person got off at some random point.

Also, from what I can tell the request stop program only lets one person get off at any given point and only runs during the late night and early morning so I guess it was implemented for the reasons that Tnophelia brought up.

I am not sure it is necessarily the best solution to a problem though and I feel as though it probably would be okay if men were allowed to use it as well. After all, if only one person can get off at a time, then I do not think that there would be too much of a problem if men could use it too.

Trash_Vortex

It would make sense for anyone to use it at a time, as long as it was only one person, for obvious reasons.

I still think even with the sexism of only allowing women to use it, it's worth being pleased about.

ClockworkUniverse

I agree. While it could be improved, this is definitely a good thing.

Nyktos

I think it's a pretty good program, but as a guy, there are still parts of the city where I wouldn't want to be walking around in the middle of the night.