RATP’s needs
Since 2022, Enov has been working with RATP to gain a better understanding of sexist and sexual violence across its public transport networks and identify ways to tackle it more effectively. The initial studies highlighted:
- Significant figures
- Low awareness among passengers of the support services and reporting channels available
- A real difficulty in developing innovative solutions beyond those already in place
In 2025, a key observation emerged: focusing solely on victims means placing the burden of the issue on the victims themselves.
The challenge:
How can tackling sexist and sexual violence on public transport become a collective issue, addressing the three key groups — victims, witnesses and perpetrators — in order to generate truly effective and innovative solutions?
Enov’s support
Given the scale of sexist and sexual violence on public transport, RATP wanted to move beyond traditional victim-centred approaches and initiate systemic change.
Our mobility team designed a unique approach combining psychosociological exploration, co-creation and innovation, while bringing together, for the first time, all three groups involved in the issue: victims, witnesses and potential perpetrators.
Given the complexity of the subject, the project was structured around 5 complementary areas of work.
Step 2: co-creation
We facilitated a one-day workshop bringing together RATP employees and external partners, including sncf, umay, law enforcement representatives and a doctoral researcher. The iterative sessions were designed to move beyond established norms and cognitive biases, generate a broad range of ideas and then refocus on robust levers:
1 – Reframing: exploring the absurd, breaking free from conventional thinking, overcoming self-censorship and moving beyond political correctness through analogy exercises and insights revealed through absurd scenarios. For example: what initiatives would make women even more vulnerable on public transport?
2 – Transposition: applying these reflections to sexist and sexual violence on public transport, for each of the groups involved: victims, witnesses and perpetrators.
3 – Ideation: moving from tension to solution by immersing participants in insights and stimuli to generate innovative, effective and reliable ideas. This phase drew on 70 levers identified during the exploratory work and translated them into a coherent system.
4 – Concept development: refining and illustrating the concepts with the support of a graphic facilitator, before converging on high-impact solutions addressing the victim–witness–perpetrator triangle.
2 groups of victims
(1 women-only group and 1 lgbtqi group)
2 groups of witnesses
(1 predominantly female group and 1 predominantly male group)
3 groups of potential perpetrators
(men only)
The recruitment of potential perpetrators followed a protocol developed through discussions with experts during the exploratory phase:
- A screening questionnaire combining attitudes towards societal issues with concrete scenarios.
- A final selection conducted through an additional telephone interview led by a trained recruitment specialist. The interview used projective scenarios and established a climate of trust to encourage participants to speak openly.
Step 4: concept formalisation
Based on the previous stages, 4 journeys, or concepts, were developed, each incorporating several components, ideas and solutions:
Witness: support the victim, alert the appropriate contacts and deter the perpetrator.
Victim: encourage the victim to move to a safe area and ask for help.
Reporting: encourage reporting through immediate, simple and discreet solutions.
Complaints and evidence: make it easier to file a complaint and gather evidence.
What made the difference
Talk to an expert
This new study enabled us to put ourselves in the shoes of victims, witnesses and potential perpetrators, fundamentally changing our approach.”
Head of the programme to combat sexual harassment on public transport