Taken for a ride: on India’s gender-blind transport system

GS-III: Taken for a ride: on India’s gender-blind transport system

CONTEXT

A 2010 report by New-Delhi-based NGO Jagori revealed that 51% of women in the capital faced harassment inside public transport, and another 42% while waiting for public transport

Ola’s survey ahead of International Women’s Day 2019, highlighted how only 9% of the surveyed women commuters in the country felt safe in public transport, but still used it due to the lack of other options.

HOW TO MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORT SAFE FOR ALL

Rope in traffic police at large bus depots, MRTC railway stations.
Provide functional and responsive helplines.
Ensure elevators and escalators are functional.
Better footpaths and clean subways.
Create safe and usable cycling tracks.
Set up the gender advisory committee.
Most importantly, educate and sensitize men.

Problems

As per a 2017 report by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, women may turn down better employment opportunities further away from home in favour of lower-paid local jobs when the public transport system is unreliable or unaffordable
This holds true, especially for those belonging to lower-income groups, thus impacting their access to better jobs, education and basic necessities
The report also states that over 84% of trips by women are by the public, intermediate public and non-motorised modes of transport
Efforts to improve our crumbling public transport systems used by a majority of the population — haven’t been addressed.

Motor Vehicles Bill 2019

The bill provides some relief to passengers as far as app-based taxi-hailing services go
It gives power to the Centre to regulate these services and set ground rules on safety and surge pricing, and get them to invest in customer care teams
It points out issues of road safety, heftier fines for errant drivers, vehicle recall norms
There’s no mention of better roads or infrastructure development

Unless we have gender-responsive plans for urban transport in place, our cities will be far from inclusive.

Source: The Hindu

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