UCLA

Successful public transit requires understanding the full breadth of rider experiences to inform policies and procedures. Prior research shows that gender affects security and mobility, yet binary gender metrics erase whether and to what extent people with marginalized gender identities experience transit differently. This national mixed methods study addressed the US public transit experiences of transgender and nonbinary adults.I designed the survey and semi-structured interview instruments to answer the following questions. What are the public transit experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming people? How do these experiences influence/affect their use of public transit, as well as their mobility and travel more broadly? In what ways are these experiences influenced by other individual characteristics (e.g. age, race, appearance)? Which gender conformity aspects influence harassment on public transit? How do these experiences inform our understanding of social hierarchy enforcement in the public spaces of transit? And, what policies/strategies can help improve the transit experiences of transgender people?Based on quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data from 353 online surveys and interviews of 22 survey participants, this study showed that gender identity, particularly at the intersection of race and gender, results in different experiences for riders—notably a likely increased risk of harassment for trans and/or nonbinary riders, more so for trans and nonbinary riders of color. The surveys and interviews both demonstrated that infrastructure failures and social hostility limit mobility. The interviews revealed how trans and nonbinary riders conceptualize social norms of who deserves what treatment. The data was not clear on which gender conformity aspects influence harassment.Interventions to improve the transit experiences of transgender and nonbinary people include better transit service, attention to physical infrastructure, shifting social norms towards respect for all people, and research centering the knowledge of trans and nonbinary riders. Though these interventions would benefit all transit riders, improving the experiences of transgender and nonbinary people holds its own value.