Online reports of harassment aboard OC Transpo surge

Incidents of harassment, assault and other troubling behaviour aboard OC Transpobuses reported anonymously throughan online tool have skyrocketed over the last year, new data shows.

Launched in June 2015and lauded asthe first of its kind in Canada, the Safe Travelspage on OC Transpo's website asks transit users to "Tell us what you saw, not who you are."

• Leering, groping, exposing: OC Transpo reporting tool reveals bad bus behaviour

In its first 10 monthsthe site collected 115 reports, CBC reported.

Now, as its second year comes to a close, that number has risen to more than 800.

"For a long time, we were the only ones hearing about [these incidents]," said Julie Lalondeof Hollaback! Ottawa, one of severalgroups thatworked with OC Transpo to developthe tool.

Touching, leering, rubbing

The groups have been meeting with OC Transpo staff to get quarterly updates on the project.The complaints cover a broad range of incidents, Lalonde said.

"Things like a young woman gets on the bus and an older man sits beside her and he's touching her, or, 'I was being leered at the entire 45-minute ride,' or, 'Aguy was rubbing up against me."

"Now OC Transpo is getting these reports, which is great because they are the ones with the capacity to do something about it."

The tool offers users several categoriesunder which to report anincident including harassment, feeling unsafe or uncomfortable, crime against a person, and crime against property.

The site defines harassment as "to be aggressively pressured or intimidated, including physical and sexual harassment," and offers an example:"You are teased or being bullied because of the way you look or your gender identity."

According to the website, OC Transpo will investigate all reports.

View an infographic ofincidents from June 13, 2016 to June 13, 2017, here.

Greater awareness

Coun. Stephen Blais, chair of the city's transit commission, attributesthe jump in the number of reports to heightened awareness about harassment and other offences.

Blaisalso credits groups like Hollaback! Ottawa forpressing OC Transpo to do more to address the issue.

"We've been continuing our education one, that the tool exists, two, that it is OKfor people to report these things," said Blais.

Blais is encouraging people to keep reporting incidents aboard OC Transpo buses so the agency can better deploy security resources "for prevention and [to] find folks who are breaking the law."

Lalondeagreed that the data collected through the toolcan help OC Transpoand Ottawa police identifypatterns, build profiles and locate repeat offenders.