28.01.2026

Safety on Munich’s public transport network

Building Design

Marienplatz subway station in Munich, access to the U3, photo: Jakub Zerdzicki

Invisible boundaries in public spaces: in Munich, three quarters of young women avoid public transport at night – out of fear. A new study by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and a representative survey by the Munich District Youth Council show how deeply insecurity is inscribed in everyday mobility – even though more than three quarters of young people are satisfied with public transport in Munich.

Increasing relevance of equality: Gender equality in mobility and transportation policy is increasingly becoming the focus of current urban development discourse.
Safety deficits in public spaces: Despite efforts, many women’s sense of safety on public transport remains impaired
Research basis: The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is investigating the experiences of multiply marginalized women in Munich’s public transport system and combining mobility research with gender studies.
Paradox of “normalized insecurity”: Despite real experiences of harassment, many women report a subjective feeling of relative safety, as they take risks for granted.
Everyday strategies for self-protection: Women develop situational routines – such as adjusting their clothing, holding keys in their hands, seeking proximity to other women or simulating phone calls.
Empirical basis of the KJR study: 1,200 young Munich residents (aged 14-27) were asked about mobility and safety; 75 percent of women avoid public transport at night, 28 percent reported sexual harassment.
Mental stress and social consequences: Permanent security pressure leads to restricted freedom of movement, social segmentation and exclusion from cultural participation.
Planning implications: Urban and transportation planning must understand security as part of spatial justice – for example through better lighting, clarity, staff presence and barrier-free communication.
Future perspective: Intersectional, equitable mobility policy will become the key to a sustainable and inclusive transport transition – safety, participation and justice must be considered as a unit.

Entrance to the Marienplatz underground and suburban train station, Munich, Photo: Tobias Seiler

Intersectional perspective on (in)security

While policies for safe and inclusive transportation are increasingly finding their way into sustainable urban strategies, ethnographic studies from Munich show that women and non-binary people do not experience public space as a neutral place: Women and non-binary people do not experience public space as a neutral place, but as an environment that is co-determined by gender, class, migration experience or queerness.

The research project “Intersectional (in)securities – multiply marginalized women’s experiences of (un)safety on public transport“ by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology combines mobility research with gender studies and investigates how multiply marginalized women experience (un)safety on public transport.

Social creativity in everyday public transport

The result is to a certain extent a paradox of normalized insecurity: despite real experiences of sexualized harassment, many women report that they feel “relatively safe”. This apparent safety is based on a normalization of risk – harassment is accepted as an expected accompanying phenomenon of female mobility.

In order to regain their agency, many women develop strategies: adjusting their clothes, keeping their keys visible, sitting near other women. These strategies – an expression of social creativity – increase control in the short term, but at the same time increase the mental effort involved in everyday mobility.

Empirical evidence: Munich's youth between mobility and caution

The finding of a gender-specific perception of safety is confirmed by the current KJR study “How do you get from A to B?” in collaboration with the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. Over 1,200 young Munich residents (aged 14-27, more than a third of whom are students) described their mobility behavior and sense of safety.
The results show a clear pattern: while 95 percent of respondents feel safe during the day, this figure drops to 54 percent at night. Among women, 75 percent avoid public transport after dark, compared to only 38 percent of men.

More than half of the women stated that they use strategies to increase their feeling of safety – such as keeping their front door keys to hand, avoiding eye contact and simulating telephone conversations. 28 percent reported sexual harassment on public transport.

Women avoid public transport much more than men after dark, photo: Thomas Chizzali

The mental price of urban insecurity

These figures show that subjective insecurity has real consequences: Women change their mobility routes, avoid certain lines or completely refrain from participating in public life at night. Permanent security pressure leads to restricted freedom of movement and social segmentation. This results in structural exclusions – a cycle that limits social mobility and restricts cultural participation.

For urban and traffic planners, this means that security is not just a question of police presence, but part of spatial and social design – and above all part of spatial justice. Lighting concepts, clarity, barrier-free communication and social control by trained mobility personnel are becoming integral elements of inclusive urban mobility.

Young mobility and its safety as a topic for the future

Despite the uncertainties, the KJR study clearly shows that the majority of young people in Munich are satisfied with the mobility services (77.8%), especially in the city center, and 92.1% can easily get from A to B. Over 40 percent use the Deutschlandticket, and almost 90 percent want digital participation formats to help shape the transport transition.

This makes it clear that safety, fairness and participation must be considered as linked dimensions of urban mobility policy and as a unit in future – also, or especially, in terms of a successful mobility transition.