(a) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Institute” means the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University.

(2) “Street harassment” means words, gestures, or actions directed at a specific person in a public place, without the consent of that person, because of a characteristic listed or defined in § 11135 of the Government Code, that the person experiences as intimidating, alarming, terrorizing, or threatening to their safety. For the purposes of this section, street harassment because of age shall include any chronological age.

(3) “Survey data” means information regarding public transit riders and their experiences using public transit, including, but not limited to, demographic information about riders and information about their experiences with safety, including, but not limited to, street harassment.

(4) “Transit operator” means the 10 transit operators, as defined in Section 99210, with the most unlinked passenger trips in 2019 in the state, according to the National Transit Database.

(b) (1) On or before December 31, 2023, the institute shall develop and make available on its internet website a survey for the purpose of promoting consistency in the collection of survey data to inform efforts to improve the safety of riders and reduce street harassment on public transit.

(2) The survey shall include questions asking for the following information:

(A) Demographic information regarding riders, including their race, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, income, primary language, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.

(B) Information regarding a rider’s experiences with safety while waiting at public transit stops and riding public transit, including:

(i) Whether a rider experiences street harassment.

(ii) The frequency with which a rider experiences street harassment.

(iii) The type of street harassment experienced by a rider.

(iv) The actual or perceived characteristics that serve as the basis for street harassment experienced by a rider.

(v) Where and when a rider experiences street harassment, including on what mode of transit.

(vi) Whether a rider experiencing street harassment is alone or accompanied by others.

(vii) Whether a rider experiencing street harassment reports the incident, and, if so, to whom and the response received.

(viii) The impact of street harassment on a rider, including whether and how they change their use of transit.

(ix) A rider’s perceptions of safety while using transit.

(3) In developing the survey, the institute shall consult with organizations representing subpopulations impacted by street harassment and with transit operators. The institute shall consider existing efforts by a transit operator to collect survey data and make recommendations on how a transit operator may use or update available survey data instead of collecting new survey data.

(Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 318, Sec. 2. (SB 1161) Effective January 1, 2023.)