89 Percent Of NYC Transit Workers Have Been Harassed: Study

UPDATE, Nov. 11: Researchers have retracted this study after they found several discrepancies in their research. More here.

BROOKLYN, NY — The majority of transit workers in New York City have been harassed or assaulted in the past four years, according to a new study from researchers at the New York University School of Global Public Health.

The study, which will soon be published in the Journal of Urban Health, says 89 percent of transit workers have faced harassment or assault of some kind while on the job in the city's buses and subways, from 2020 to early 2024.

The study surveyed 1,297 public-facing transit workers.

Almost half of all workers surveyed said they experienced verbal harassment or physical assault.

One in five said they experienced theft, and 6.3 percent said they experienced sexual assault or harassment.

“Transit workers are our city’s unsung heroes — they kept New York City functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it came at a cost to these frontline workers,” said Robyn Gershon, clinical professor of epidemiology at the NYU School of Global Public Health and the study’s senior author.

It's possible that the survey results are biased, since workers who have experienced harassment on the job might be more likely to complete the survey, but the results still show that there is more work to be done to protect transit workers, the researchers said.

"We hope that providing evidence of the harassment and violence that workers face can lead to better data on transit worker safety and improved policies protecting this vital workforce.”