2021

Shahrior Pervaz, University of Central Florida
Md Asif Raihan, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology

Though there have been extensive investigations on gender issues with respect to travel and safety in the developed world, there is still a lack of deeper understanding of the issues in the developing world. Additionally, understanding transport mode choice factors, especially of low-income commuters group is relatively less researched concept in the developing world. The low-income female commuters are often forced to choose walking as a mode of travel in these countries. However, crashes and fatalities involving such walking group are on rising trends in developing urban society like Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Existing literature pointed out the social disparity, low-income, lack of suitable mode, and substandard public transport force women to walk; hence, studies are yet to analyze the socio-economic and demographic factors on their choice of walking. This study aims to identify the potential socio-economic and demographic factors that influence low-income female commuters’ walking decision in Dhaka. A questionnaire survey was administered and binary logistic regression model was applied to examine the contribution of the potential factors on their mode choice. Age, commuting distance, willingness to pay, and children in the family were found to be significantly associated with the walking decision. Additionally, their safety perception was evaluated through another questionnaire survey. The findings of the study can be used to develop pragmatic policies for women commuters’ safety and efficient mobility in relevant developing urban societies.

Andree Woodcock, Coventry University
Miriam Pirra (miriam.pirra@polito.it), Politecnico di Torino
Katarzyna Gut, Coventry University
Stefan Roseanu, Integral Consulting R&D

The paper explores gender and diversity in transport research. To move forward, transport needs to create new road maps which acknowledge its social context. Despite recent initiatives to address gender gaps in STEM and support women in research, most research outputs and investigations are led by men. Taking a systems-oriented approach, using qualitative and desk-based research, the authors argue that gender and diversity bias in research is symptomatic of a wider malaise in the Transport Business Ecosystem (TBE). This not only affects women’s research footprints but, more importantly, the direction of transport research. A starting point for this is workplace diversity in which employees and organizations gain first-hand tacit knowledge and experience of diversity, where diversity is woven into the cultural and organizational fabric. Research Institutes and Centres are located within wider educational systems which lack gender and ethnic diversity. They are part of and perpetuate a culture replete with barriers and obstacles to women and those from ethnic minorities. Until these are addressed, women and those from ethnic backgrounds will not be able to lead or significantly influence transport research. Mapping these barriers on the Hexagon Spindle model of Educational Ergonomics (1-2) reveals the need for widespread changes to research management to address gender and diversity gaps in transport research.

Sarah Robinson, University of Texas, Arlington
Kristen Ravi, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Anne Nordberg, University of Texas, Arlington
Rachel Voth Schrag, University of Texas, Arlington

Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) experience transportation disadvantages due to financial constraints often caused by their abusive partners. Shared mobility services like ride-hail and car-share programs may be a feasible solution to transportation barriers for survivors. This study presented scenarios to providers who work with IPV shelter residents in order to determine if having access to an on-demand ride-hail and car-share service would mitigate survivors’ transportation challenges. Ten participants were interviewed using scenario planning and an accompanying semi-structured interview guide. Participants were presented with two scenarios: 1) imagine if there was a ride-hail service which operated at the shelter and 2) imagine if there were a car-share service placed at the shelter. Thematic analysis was used to develop themes around the utilization of the ride-hail and car-share services, barriers and concerns that may need to be addressed, and policy recommendations that would make the program successful. Participants agreed that with the proper policies in place, ride-hail and car-share services could greatly aid survivors in getting the transportation they need in order to regain their independence both socially and economically. Exploring the potential for shared mobility services to be a viable transportation solution can aid city planners and shared mobility companies in understanding how to use the services to benefit not only survivors of IPV, but also other members within communities who may experience transportation disadvantage.

Bianca Bianchi Alves, The World Bank
Karla Dominguez Gonzalez, The World Bank
Abel Lopez Dodero, The World Bank
Max Hamrick, The World Bank
Ammar A. Malik, Harvard University

With rapid economic growth and urbanization, many governments in the developing world are making unprecedented investments in urban public transport infrastructure. But the benefits of these enhanced services are unevenly distributed and some groups, such as women, face different barriers to their mobility and accessibility, many of which are associated with gender norms. Traditionally, decisions about public transport interventions considers users as genderless individuals, without considering that men and women face different costs to using public transit. This paper argues that the generalized cost of transport (GCT) provides a robust framework to assess more comprehensively gender differences in public transport decisions, with a particular focus on female riders’ mobility and safety. This paper argues that analyzing the cost of transport tends to largely focus on in-vehicle and monetary costs, when women’s mobility and accessibility is also constrained by different, non-monetary costs occurring both outside and within vehicles. The paper utilizes the GCT as a framework to analyze Mexico City’s current and past policy interventions to address female’s mobility concerns in public transport with the aim to identify possible policy gaps. The paper concludes that women’s safety concerns, along with their extensive public transport network, require the city enhance its approach towards preventing and responding to sexual harassment and violence. We recommend utilizing the GCT framework within the evaluation and planning process for public transport interventions to ensure women’s mobility and safety concerns are properly embedded within the intervention’s designs.

Tierra Bills, Wayne State University
Subeh Chowdhury, University of Auckland
John Olukuru, Strathmore University

Women public transport users in developing countries encounter similar challenges with personal safety as those is more developed counties. Women from low and middle-income households are often captive users of poor transport service. However, less is known about the nature of these safety perceptions and how they relate to other demographic variables, traveler attitudes, and how travelers may be adapting their travel behavior to perceptions of safety. This study presents the findings from a survey of university students in Nairobi, Kenya, emphasizing gender distinctions. We further estimate a series of ordinal logit models on the demographic and attitudinal effects on public transport safety perceptions and how they differ by gender. Consistent with the literature, we find that women travelers have a much higher odds of perceiving waiting times at public transport stations as unsafe, relative to male travelers. Further we find that a common adaptation to feeling unsafe is to “pretend confidence” while waiting at stations. Women who “pretend confidence” have a much higher odds of perceiving public transport as safer at nighttime. This finding raises a critical research need to study behavioral adaptations to perceptions of personal safety, how they differ by gender, and how these behaviors affect accessibility for female and male public transport riders.

Wei-Shiuen Ng, International Transport Forum
Ashley Acker, International Transport Forum

Women remain underrepresented in most transport-related industries, with only 17 percent female workers on average across a sample of 46 countries. Both attracting and retaining them remains a challenge for governments and the private sector. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the correlation between female participation in the transport workforce and variables such as GDP per capita; the female participation rate in the total workforce; the gender parity index for tertiary enrolment; the percentage of women with tertiary STEM degrees; fertility rates; the existence of an equal pay law, and a law ensuring the right to maternity leave. Results from a panel regression analysis show that GDP per capita, female labour force participation rates, gender parity indices for tertiary education enrolment, and female STEM tertiary attainment rates have significant and positive correlation with women's participation in the transport workforce as a whole but discrepancies appear in different job divisions within the transport sector. The cross-cutting nature of gender equality requires multi-ministry and multi-stakeholder engagement, including the inclusive development of gender equality policies in both the public and private sectors. Specific policy measures pertaining to women's education and training, hiring and retaining of female employees and the alignment of international standards and national laws are critical in achieving greater gender equality in the transport workforce.

Victoria Perk, University of South Florida
Vanko Antonov, SpartaServe Consulting
Katrina Corcoran, Plan Hillsborough

Why is the provision of safe transit for women, in particular, important? Access to transit means access to significant economic and educational opportunities for women. This paper summarizes a study of women’s safety related to public transit. Women are used to the idea of being aware and concerned about harassment in public. Research indicates that there are shortcomings in addressing gender-based harassment on transit and, more generally, in public spaces. National Transit Database (NTD) security data were also analyzed and the inclusion of the data demonstrates that the occurrence of crimes, such as assault, on transit is very low in the U.S., but these data do not reflect how often harassing incidents occur. Incidents of harassment, which typically do not meet NTD reporting thresholds, are also under-reported by victims. The study also included discussions with three transit agencies in Florida. While NTD-reportable personal security events at these agencies are very low, the discussions provided insight into the agencies’ awareness of gender-based harassment and various initiatives being implemented, including “see something, say something” campaigns, anonymous incident reporting, enhanced lighting and shelter design, operator safety barriers, and enhanced training. Women should not have to accept that they will be the targets of gender-based harassment or worse. Transit agencies are in unique positions as public entities to be leaders in addressing gender-based harassment, not only by addressing incidents on their services, but by engaging with their communities to address these issues on a larger, societal scale.

Kristen Ravi (kravi2@utk.edu), University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Sarah Robinson, University of Texas, Arlington
Rachel Voth Schrag, University of Texas, Arlington
Noelle Fields, University of Texas, Arlington

Transportation disadvantage (TD) hinders individuals’ ability to access social and economic activities and is associated with lower quality of life, poorer health, and social exclusion. Scant literature is available looking at interpersonal factors (e.g., family structure or dynamics) that affect transportation disadvantage. The current study assesses the extent to which scholars measure partner-related transportation barriers among survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). The authors conducted a systematic review to identify items that address transportation coercion from within existing validated IPV measures, in order to begin the process of developing a measure of transportation coercion to inform future research and practice. The review yielded six psychometric studies of IPV or coercive control measures that include transportation-related items. The transportation items included in these measures related to restricting or preventing the survivor from accessing transportation through various methods including stealing the car keys or taking the car. A limitation we identified through this review of existing transportation coercion items is that all validated measures only include items that refer specifically to transportation by car. The authors created a transportation coercion measure that builds on the existing transportation coercion items by adding items related to public transportation, walking, bicycling, and ride-hailing. Once transportation coercion among IPV survivors is better understood, an interdisciplinary approach that includes transportation planners and civil engineers could be useful for meeting survivors' needs to access transportation safely.