URBAN MOBILITY REPORT - REPORTS AND INDICES
News: What’s
in World Bank’s new toolkit on making urban transport better for Indian women?
What's in the news?
● On
December 8, the World Bank launched a
“Toolkit on Enabling Gender Responsive Urban Mobility and Public Spaces in
India” with the aim of suggesting ways to make public transport in Indian cities more inclusive of women’s
traveling requirements.
Key takeaways:
● The
toolkit emphasizes on the importance of integrating
a gender lens in transport policies and infrastructure, making various
recommendations on interventions that can help make urban transport safer,
especially for women.
● It
brings together 50 case studies of best practices and efforts from across the
world, along with a special inculcation of the Indian context.
Findings of the report:
1. Poor public transport curtails women’s financial
independence and agency:
● Studies
show that women, especially those from
lower socio-economic groups, are among the biggest users of public transport in
Indian cities. Their dependence on public transport stems from lower
discretionary incomes.
● Currently,
urban mobility systems are not catered to these unique needs of women. This can
make travel inconvenient, unsafe, and also more expensive for them, putting an
additional burden on a section of society which is already disadvantaged.
● While
many women use public transport on a daily basis out of compulsion, the state
of public transport systems has a major impact on a variety of decisions made
by women.
2. Impacts of lack of reliable public transport:
● Studies
have shown that lack of safe, inexpensive and reliable public transport has a
profound impact on women’s ability to
access education and employment opportunities, in turn leading to poorer life
outcomes for them.
● India’s female labor
force participation rate is among the lowest in the world, standing at just 30%
in 2019-20.
● Lack
of viable urban transport is frequently cited as a major impediment for women
to access better employment opportunities.
3. Vicious cycle:
● Crucially,
beyond being safe, public transport infrastructure also needs to be perceived
to be safe, as it is the perception that guides decisions to use such
transport.
● With
safety issues turning women away from using public transport, a vicious cycle
is created - unsafe transport leads to fewer women traveling out which in turn
leads to fewer women out in public spaces which actually make these spaces even
more unsafe.
4. Trip chaining:
● Women
also face higher costs of traveling.
This is mainly because of two reasons.
a. First,
women have to stitch together various
short commutes to fulfill the many responsibilities they have. For
instance, a typical day for a working mother might involve commutes from home
to school back to home, then to her place of work, then back to school and back
to home. The World Bank recognizes this as “trip chaining” and this increases
travel costs.
b. Second,
women often also make decisions to use
certain kinds of more expensive routes or forms of transport on account of them
being perceived to be safer. For instance, women often take longer routes
to travel which are perceived to be safer, rather than traveling through
“unsafe areas”.
● All
these factors amount together as a “pink
tax” that specifically burden women and impede them from making optimal
decisions for themselves.
Suggestions given in the report:
The
World Bank suggests a four-pillared approach to help address prevailing issues
in urban transport for women.
1. Planning and Evaluation:
● Understand on-ground
situation with analyzing gender concerns.
● Gender
blind planning and infrastructure development leaves major gaps that
specifically impact women. Hence, any new transport policy or infrastructure
development must be preceded by an honest evaluation of issues concerning women.
2. Include women in key institutions:
● Involve
more women in key institutions in charge of decision making to inculcate a gender
lens in public transport planning and development.
3. Awareness:
● The
toolkit emphasizes on building gender sensitivity and awareness among service
providers through mandatory programs and community action.
● Everyone
from the bus conductor to local beat constables must be aware of concerns that
women have and how to address them,
4. Strengthening infrastructure:
● Investment
has to be made in better infrastructure and services with a focus on women-friendly design.
● For
example, while creating new bus stops is good, it would be even better if these
bus stops were designed to be level with the floors of buses, adequate
lighting, SOS buttons, and well-maintained washrooms.
Some
concrete interventions that the toolkit suggests include creation of wide obstruction-free footpaths, street lighting, clear
signages, dedicated bicycle lanes, introduction of short and circuitous bus
routes, and subsidizing/making free public transport for women.