Constraints to Women’s Use of Public Transport in Developing Countries, Part I : High Costs, Limited Access, and Lack of Comfort
This brief, the first in a two-part series, provides an overview of the evidence on key features of women’s travel behavior and the barriers they face in accessing public transport in developing countries, including affordability, frequency, covera...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099550408012242045/IDU05986e9020f68504b680bc3709f90291733e9 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37821 |
| Summary: | This brief, the first in a two-part
series, provides an overview of the evidence on key features
of women’s travel behavior and the barriers they face in
accessing public transport in developing countries,
including affordability, frequency, coverage, and comfort.
Women make more frequent, shorter trips with more stops
along the way to combine multiple tasks. In contrast, men
follow direct and linear routes. These patterns have
important implications. As this brief shows, the cost and
frequency of public transport affect women more than men,
and given women’s income constraints, create trade-offs
between travel and other economic opportunities. This brief
also highlights how the current design of public transport
does not accommodate the unique needs of women. Notably,
coverage issues such as a poorly connected network,
including last mile problems, limit women’s use of public
transport and increase their reliance on private and
informal modes of transport. Infrastructure design does not
prioritize women’s comfort. Understanding the evidence on
the challenges faced by women is a first step in identifying
policies and interventions that could improve women’s accessibility. |
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