Moscow metro to introduce women-only carriages and VIP trains?

The Moscow metro is not going to follow the example of Beijing authorities to introduce women-only carriages to prevent the sexual harassment of women.

Photo: Moscow metro to introduce women-only carriages and VIP trains?

“We have never considered such a question,” the chairman of the press service of the Moscow metro, Pavel Sukharnikov, told RIA Novosti.

The official added that there were no complaints from female passenger of the metro. However, this subject receives a lot of attention on the Russian Internet. Many bloggers write on their web-pages that every woman was subjected to sexual harassment in public transport at least once in her lifetime.

Psychologists say that public transport provides a perfect environment for that: many people, availability and an opportunity to avoid punishment. Up to 40 percent of female passengers of the Moscow metro were subjected to sexual harassment.

Dmitry Gayev, the chairman of the Moscow metro, previously said that there would be no VIP carriages in the underground. The idea to introduce such carriages appeared in St. Petersburg.

“I’ve heard those rumors about VIP trains and VIP carriages in the St. Petersburg metro. The subject was discussed actively, but I can officially reject the information,” he said.

“The metro is an open system of transportation, where all people are equal, just like they are in a sauna. If you’re stuck in a traffic jam, leave your Bentley and ride the metro,” Gayev said.

Dmitry Gayev also said that there would be neither bathrooms nor garbage cans in the Moscow metro.