---
title: "A Namma Yatri position of care and inclusion for women in public transport"
date: 2023-04-28
mainfont: Times New Roman

format: html

abstract: In this we share a recommendation for Namma Yaatri to fund, lead and conduct research into intersectional use of public transport and varied concerns of women. We also propose several speculatory proposals like a system to legitimize share autos and reinvogorate pre-paid auto stands which can act as eyes on the street. These are shared as preliminary draft proposals that Namma Yaatri can choose to develop a corpus of research on.
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# A Namma Yatri position of care and inclusion for women in public transport

## Primary research

### Differences in worries
It's important to recognize that women have different worries and needs when it comes to using public transport in Bengaluru, and that these concerns can vary based on factors such as age, societal position, and experiences.

### Differences in needs
For example, older women may have difficulty accessing higher buses and require lower bus heights to board and alight safely. This could be addressed by ensuring that there are enough low-floor buses available and by providing appropriate signage to indicate which buses have low floors.

On the other hand, younger and migrant women may have different needs, such as better signboards and reservation signs on seats in English. This could be addressed by ensuring that important information is provided in multiple languages, including English, and by designing signage and reservation systems that are accessible and easy to understand for all users.

### Societal understandings
>It was found that 53% of the females did not report going out of the home compared to only 14% of males. The mobility of females reduces steeply from adolescence to young adulthood and then remains largely stable at a low level before reducing further for older adults. No such variation is observed among males, except their mobility is also reduced among older adults. There is a clear dichotomy with women mostly participating in in-house activities while men mostly involved in out-of-home activities [^1]

Time is gendered, and mobility patterns must be studied based on this.

## Recommendations

### Namma Yaatri should lead research into experiences of women, and design based on research corpus [^2]
- Time spent by women is gendered and use of Namma Yaatri services, along with a general transport pattern must be studied and released in an accessbile manner for use.
- Studies must include accessiblity analysis of hailing points (Busses/ autos / bike taxis / cycle for hire)
- Consultations for this study must include women of all possible combinations. Refer to the ITDP Policy Briefs on a clear list. There should be a focus on industry relationships to audit women's workplace commute experiences.
- Legitimise and regulate autos, taxis and possibly share autos as viable means for last mile connectivity, while it is widely understood as a need, there are complex relationships with auto unions, bus unions, BMTC funding and so on. There should be systems think tank employed to postulate on solutions for this.

## Speculatory
- Consider alternate ways of montetizing routes (Share Autos, predetermined stands, pre booking for routes in private areas)[^3]
- Prebooking stands in private areas provide a respite from auto congestion (usually seen outside malls), these can also be placed in strageic locations to act as "eyes on the street". [^4]
-

## Process
### Primary research at Yelahanka NES stop
Interviews were conducted at around 5pm on a busy day at NES. Over 45 busses crossed the junction in a little around 7 minutes. The objective was to understand last mile concerns, use patterns.

[^1]: Rahul Goel, "Gender Gap in Mobility Outside Home in Urban India"
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368824044_Gender_gap_in_mobility_outside_home_in_urban_India>
[^2]: Women and Transport in Indian Cities, ITDP Policy Brief, 2017, <https://www.itdp.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/181202_Women-and-Transport-in-Indian-Cities.pdf>
[^3]: Padmaja Jayaraman, Citizen Matters Chennai, Fixed fares, Limited Regulations, What Regulation can mean for Share Autos in Chennai, 2023 <https://chennai.citizenmatters.in/share-auto-para-transit-cumta-intermediate-public-transport-chennai-commute-68471>
[^4]: Priscila Kichler, thecityfix.com, How eyes on the street contribute public safety, https://thecityfix.com/blog/how-eyes-on-the-street-contribute-public-safety-nossa-cidade-priscila-pacheco-kichler/