Moving Toward Gender-Equitable Transportation in Post-COVID-19 Urban South Asia

Abstract

This research examines the impacts of COVID-19 on the mobility of resource-poor women and its linkage with livelihoods in urban South Asia, and how gender-responsive transport measures could be adopted. The study, conducted in Delhi between October 2020 and May 2021, used a mixed methods, multi-stakeholder, and reflexive approach. A literature review was conducted on the gender and mobility context in Delhi, India. Quantitative data were collected through surveys with resource-poor women, while qualitative research methods consisted of in-depth interviews with them. Different stakeholders were engaged through round tables and key informant interviews before and after data collection to share the findings and recommendations. The sample survey (n = 800) revealed that only 1.8% of working resource-poor women have access to a personal vehicle, making them dependent on public transport. While 81% of their trips are by bus, 57% of their peak hour trips are by paratransit, despite free travel on buses. Only 10% of the sample have access to a smart phone, which restricts their access to digital initiatives based on smart phone applications. The women expressed concerns such as poor bus frequencies and buses not stopping for them under the free ride scheme. These were consistent with issues faced before the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings highlight the need for targeted strategies for resource-poor women to achieve equity in gender-responsive transport. These include a multimodal subsidy, short messaging service to obtain real-time information, increased awareness on filing complaints, and an effective grievance redressal system.

Of the approximately two billion informal workers in the world, 37% (740 million) are women ( 1 , 2 ). A higher share of women (92% and 84.5%) in low- and lower middle-income countries are employed in the informal sector, compared with 58% of women globally ( 3 ). Lack of access to transportation is a significant barrier to women’s participation in the labor force, along with other socio-economic constraints such as institutionalized gender roles, work-life balance, and marital status ( 4 ). Studies have indicated a positive correlation between proximity to public transport systems, workforce participation, increased earnings, and work hours ( 5 ). Linkages between women’s mobility and livelihoods are further complicated by their travel patterns, which involve trip chaining to account for household and care activities ( 6 ); these gendered differences in mobility become further pronounced in low- and lower middle-income countries ( 7 ). Trip chaining refers to travel involving multiple purposes to a single or multiple destinations and often begins or ends at home ( 8 ).

Urban marginalized women often do not have access to private vehicles as family vehicles are traditionally reserved for the use of male members in resource-constrained settings ( 9 ). These resource-poor women (RPW) generally walk or are dependent on public transportation, unlike women belonging to other income categories, for whom public transport is one of the least preferred modes of transport ( 10 , 11 ). Here, we define RPW as women who do not have access to a private vehicle and whose access to facilities, services, and employment opportunities is constrained by their socio-economic status and patriarchal socio-cultural norms. As the earned incomes of informal workers are lower than those in the formal sector, they may be disproportionately affected by higher transportation costs ( 3 ).

Therefore, the coverage, affordability, and frequency of public transport determines the mobility of RPW. Poor public transportation services often restrict their employment opportunities ( 12 ) with regard to location, time, and distance.

In this context, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected women informal workers ( 13 ). In India alone, 400 million informal workers were reported to be at the brink of extreme poverty ( 14 ). In addition to loss in incomes, they faced an increase in household and domestic care work and domestic violence ( 2 ). Gender poverty gaps are expected to widen as a result of the pandemic, with half of the projected new poor located in South Asia ( 15 ).

Cities across the globe announced lockdowns of varying intensity at the onset of the pandemic. Public transport was entirely grounded or heavily restricted, depending on the region. After such lockdowns, bus-based public transport operations resumed with curtailed services, lower occupancy, revised fares, and disinfection of vehicles ( 16 ). By September 2020, most cities had resumed bus services at full seating capacity, but with no standing passengers and compulsory face masks. Cities, including Delhi, initiated trials for contactless ticketing to ensure physical distancing ( 17 ). COVID-19 has had a negative impact on public transport operations the world over. Enforcement of physical distancing norms has created greater demand for public transport buses, but operators continue to grapple with curtailed services and falling revenues ( 18 – 20 ).

As mentioned above, mobility is vital to the economic recovery of RPW workers. There have only been limited efforts to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the mobility of RPW and their expectations from the public transport system. The objective of this study is to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s mobility and the gaps between their expectations and public transportation strategies in low-income countries, and to provide recommendations for gender-responsive, safe, and secure public transportation. This research lies within the broader framework of an economic recovery plan to achieve multiple sustainable development goals (SDGs): climate change, sustainable cities, and gender equity (SDGs 13, 11, and 5).

Literature Review

Delhi: A Detailed Overview

The National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi is home to an urban population of 16 million as per the 2011 census, with 46.47% of the total urban population being women ( 21 ). Public bus transport services are offered by the state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and the public-private partnership of Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS). They have a combined fleet of 6,100 buses ( 20 ), transporting 4.2 million passengers daily, as of 2018/19 ( 22 ).

In 2019, the Delhi government established a free bus ride scheme for women to improve women’s access to public transport. Subsequently the share of female ridership rose from 33% to above 40% ( 23 , 24 ). However, other issues, such as poor frequency, overcrowding, and sexual harassment have not been resolved ( 9 , 25 , 26 ).

The Indian government implemented a national lockdown on March 24, 2020, bringing travel and transport to a standstill. In Delhi, public transport was restricted to 50% of the DTC fleet (2,000 buses) ( 27 ). On May 18, 2020, public transport services resumed with the fourth phase of the lockdown, with buses restricted to 20 passengers in an alternate seating arrangement to ensure physical distancing ( 28 ). Delhi, which had only half the number of buses required to serve the population, saw a surge in waiting times ( 29 ), and crowding ( 28 ). Physical distancing norms were openly flouted when buses arrived and people rushed to board. Women found it difficult to jostle ahead of male passengers to board the bus. Though 25% of seats are reserved for women in DTC buses, the pandemic precipitated a situation where a woman had to be among the first 20 passengers to board the bus to be assured passage. With the current carrying capacity, DTC officials recommend five times the existing fleet size to ensure access to public transport, mindful of physical distancing norms ( 16 ).

On November 1, 2020, buses were allowed to operate with full seating capacity and no standing passengers ( 30 ). The Government of the NCT of Delhi has initiated pilot testing of contactless ticketing for DTC and cluster buses through an app named Chartr. During the second trial, held over a period of 14 days in September, 6% of all tickets sold were through the Chartr app; 79.4% of these tickets were pink tickets (free travel tickets for women) ( 31 ). In addition, route details, expected time of arrival, and bus schedules are accessible on Chartr. However, these facilities are accessible solely through the app, which necessitates access to a smart phone ( 31 ).

While transport thinktanks and organizations have released standard operating procedures in the wake of the pandemic, these contain only limited gender-sensitive measures, most of which prioritize the boarding and seating of pregnant women ( 32 ).

A survey conducted by the Institute of Social Studies Trust (ISST) in 2020 revealed the impact of COVID-19 on women informal workers, primarily loss of income from loss of jobs (21%), inability to commute because of the lockdown (68%), or fear of contracting the virus (55%) ( 33 ). Women informal workers (32.4%) reported that transport was the essential service most difficult to access during lockdown ( 33 ). They were also unable to benefit from schemes launched by the government, such as the direct benefit cash transfer (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package), because of an inability to access automated teller machines or banks because of lack of public transport ( 33 ).

Methods

The approach builds on existing research on gender, mobility, and livelihoods ( 4 ), lack of access to personal vehicles for RPW ( 9 ), reliance on public transportation ( 8 ), affordability, transportation costs ( 7 ), impact of household and care work on women’s economic opportunities ( 9 , 34 ), and the digital gender divide ( 35 ). For this research, we adopted a mixed method, multi-stakeholder, and reflexive approach.

Mixed Methods Approach

To render both an analytical and humanized understanding of the everyday realities of RPW, a mixed methods approach ( 36 ) using quantitative and qualitative data was selected. This enhances the precision and reliability of data through triangulation and examination from various standpoints ( 37 , 38 ). Quantitative data were collected and analyzed to estimate the scale and degree of impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s travel behavior; it also helped to make the economic case for policy recommendations. The qualitative data substantiated and provided context to the findings by capturing perspectives, opinions, attitudes, and beliefs from different standpoints: public transport users, advocacy groups, decision makers, and policy influencers. It provided a basis for a more gender-responsive approach to public transport policy formulation.

Methodology and Activities Undertaken

The research was divided into two phases. The first was aimed at aggregating grassroots perspectives from membership-based organizations (MBO) and civil society organizations through an online round table and conducting key informant interviews (KIIs) to assess awareness among transport practitioners and decision makers on the specific issues faced by RPW and their perspectives. The second phase built on the information collected to design data collection tools. The activities are summarized below (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Methodology.

An overview of the methods used in the research study is presented below.

Online Round Table

An online round table was conducted with 17 representatives of international organizations, South Asian and Indian feminist networks, unions, and collectives to obtain grassroots perspectives of the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on the mobility of different groups of women.

KIIs

KIIs were conducted with 10 transport operators, development banks and agencies, and thinktanks in India. The KIIs took the form of semi-structured interviews and served to assess awareness of the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on women’s mobility, and to obtain perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for ensuring gender equity and safety in public transport.

Telephone Surveys With RPW Workers

RPW workers aged 18 to 59 years, who use public transport at least once in two weeks, were targeted for the survey. The surveys were conducted across 23 settlements (Table 1) within a radius of 2 km of 23 bus stops across Delhi (Figure 2).

Table 1.

Sampling and Stratification of Survey

S no.	Parameter	Stratification
1	Sampling	800 telephone surveys at a confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval of 2.85.
2	Location	Jhuggie jhopris bastis (non-notified slums), resettlement colonies, urban villages, SEWA Sakthi Kendras (membership-based organization of women workers), and home-based worker clusters within 2 km of 23 bus stops distributed across Delhi.
3	Age	18–59 years; 60% of women in Delhi belong to this age group ( 21 ).
4	Use of public transport	Respondents must travel by bus or intermediate public transport and travel at least once in two weeks. Travel companions—that is, those accompanying respondents in the journey—are not considered for the survey.
5	Number of surveys in a location	A minimum of 35 surveys per location as 30 is the minimum number of surveys required for statistical validity.

Figure 2.

Location of telephone surveys.

The agency commissioned to conduct the survey had its enumerators collect telephone numbers of RPW workers from the sample locations; 822 telephonic surveys were conducted at a confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval of 2.85. A minimum number of 35 surveys were conducted in each location to ensure statistical significance.

The survey questions were designed to gauge the socio-economic condition, mobility, persistent issues, and new barriers faced by RPW in regard to access to and safety, security, and affordability of public transport. Mobility was assessed through a travel diary created to detail the respondents’ travel activity in the previous week.

Analysis

Both the qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed with a view to understanding the spatial and social disadvantages faced by RPW in light of curtailed public transport operations. The qualitative data from the online round table and KIIs were summarized and grouped by theme. Analysis of the quantitative data was performed using the software SPSS. Data were grouped into the categories of demography, ownership and use of mobile phones, travel behavior (travel diary), travel behavior pre-COVID, and concerns relating to bus-based travel.

Qualitative Data

Gender-Sensitive Interventions in Public Transport in Delhi

The Delhi government, which requires 6,000 more buses to cater to the current population, is in the process of augmenting its fleet by acquiring 1,300 buses. DTC has implemented various initiatives aimed at women’s safety in buses. These include 28 women-only bus services, “eco vans” staffed by a marshal, and two traffic supervising staff with a direct communications link with the control room. In case of emergency, the control room will alert the eco van as well as a relevant department such as the fire services. All buses are to be fitted with panic buttons, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and GPS devices.

Gender Inequities in Public Transport Pre-COVID-19

Women and girls face issues in public transport related to service frequency, comfort, and accessibility; infrastructure; safety and sexual harassment; and social and cultural norms. For women, access to transport and choice of livelihood and income are interdependent. As women are primarily reliant on public transport and male relatives for their mobility needs, deficiencies in the public transport system, such as unreliable schedules, high fares, poor coverage and frequency, and insufficient fleet size, affect them disproportionately. Low earned incomes as compared with men also mean that women spend a higher share of their earnings on transport.

Sexual harassment emerged as the biggest barrier to women’s use of public transport, along with infrastructural issues such as insufficient street lighting, waiting areas not designed for caregivers, and safe crossings. Patriarchal social and cultural norms also restrict women’s mobility and use of public transport. Gender roles have placed the burden of household and care work on women, which forces them to find work close to their homes or in areas well served by public transport. At the same time, the challenges in mobility vary across different socio-economic groups. For example, street vendors are not allowed to board buses with their wares and are often forced to take other modes of transport. Poor public transport connectivity from residential areas to markets negatively affects home-based workers.

Gendered data on women’s mobility must be disaggregated by age and income for a nuanced understanding of the travel behavior of women and girls. Women bear an additional “pink tax”, the additional cost paid by women for traveling by intermediate public transport (IPT) in off-peak hours of bus-based public transport and socio-cultural restrictions based on gender roles and stereotypes. There also exists a digital divide which excludes RPW by denying them the ability to access information related to public transport.

The Pandemic and the Mobility of RPW

COVID-19 has had a severe impact on women’s mobility, exacerbating issues related to poor access to mobility. Generally, any deficit in bus-based transportation disproportionally affects the vulnerable population. For example, if a route is discontinued, workforce participation of women in that area is negatively affected.

The loss of jobs because of the pandemic made a high number of informal women workers financially dependent on other members of their families. Financial dependence and high cost of transport has severely limited the mobility of women. On the other hand, women in certain sectors such as primary health and sanitation were forced to report to work on time despite travel restrictions and high costs.

Good Practices to Improve Women’s Mobility

The design and implementation of public transport services must incorporate the travel needs of women. Women must be encouraged to participate as service providers in the transport sectors. To enable their participation, indispensable facilities such as toilets must be provided. Task forces on women’s mobility can be established to provide a bottom-up perspective to transport operators and government officials. Mobility data on women’s travel patterns and use of public transportation, and quality of public transport infrastructure and services can be collected to inform design of gender-sensitive public transport.

Suggestions to Facilitate Women’s Access and Mobility

Reliability of public transport is often more important than having access to real-time information. However, to bridge the digital divide, adoption of smart phones by RPW must be encouraged and facilitated. Simultaneously, information dissemination techniques beyond mobile applications such as radio or SMS updates in basic phones must be explored for wider reach.

Stopgap measures such as women-only doors in buses can be explored until universal accessibility is ensured. Expanding the fleet size is the best way to achieve universal accessibility. Public-private partnerships with private bus owners can be explored in addition to other alternatives, such as optimizing the use of buses on school duty in off-peak hours.

Last-mile connectivity and access to public transport for women in the urban periphery must be improved. Suggestions for this included the subsidization of last-mile connectivity services or provision of travel grants. Viability gap funding can be provided to transport operators to run services in unserved or under-served areas. They can operate as a catchment service that connects to main arterial roads.

The planning and design of bus systems often involves a trade-off between efficiency and equity; however, this must not negate the issue of ensuring that women are provided safe and secure public transport. In most situations, buses are deployed in ways that make the maximum financial sense to the bus company. The fulfillment of a social objective brings the question of who will pay for the deficit generated in achieving these objectives. Thus, when defining the cost of a service, it is imperative to consider whether the city can afford such a service as well as to investigate the demand for the service. This requires targeted surveys to understand the quantum of demand and travel behavior. These evidence-based decisions must be backed by data points such as information on the mode choice and generation points for buses.

Data required to improve female ridership include the perception of safety on public transport along with perception surveys, qualitative assessment of the mobility needs of women, as well as preference for different types of incentives. For the design of public transport operations after COVID-19, sex, age, and income disaggregated data on journey time, travel cost, and work profile can be used to inform both short-term and long-term measures.

Quantitative Data

Demography

The survey respondents were primarily domestic workers, street vendors, home-based workers, health and construction workers, or those employed in grocery stores. Of the RPW respondents, 90% were married, compared with 51% of women in urban Delhi ( 28 ). The largest group (45%) belonged to Scheduled Castes (SC) (lowest ranking Hindu caste [ 39 ]) and the majority were illiterate (65%). This is higher than the demographic profile of slums in Delhi, where 27% are SC ( 21 ) and the literacy rate is 59% ( 40 ). Of the respondents, 63% were aged between 18 to 39 whereas 69% of women belonged to this age group in Delhi in 2011.

Individual and Household Income

Most households (27%) have five members and an average of 1.83 earning members. The average income of RPW in Indian Rupees (INR) is INR 6,180 per month (Figure 3), with the majority belonging to households with average incomes between INR 10,000 to 12,499 (Figure 4).

Figure 3.

Individual income (Indian Rupees per month).

Figure 4.

Household monthly income (Indian Rupees per month).

Working Hours and Time Spent in Household and Care Activities

Of the RPW respondents, 79% did not work during the lockdown. They suffered an estimated loss of INR 754 crores during this time period (68 days). RPW worked an average of 46 h per week across all seven days of the week. Further, 95% of RPW were engaged in household and care work seven days a week across all time periods. During the lockdown the hours spent on household and care activities increased by 28% to 5 h in May 2020, compared with December 2020, when they devoted 3 h to the same. This suggests that RPW lose a significant amount of income as they are engaged in household and care work.

Possession of ID Cards and Bank Accounts

Most have some form of identification, with 99.9% possessing Aadhar cards (Figure 5).

Figure 5.

Possession of identity cards.

Aadhar card (issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India) is an identity card that serves as proof of identity and proof of address for residents in India. Other identity cards include PAN card, which is a Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Income Tax Department of India, and Below Poverty Line (BPL) card which is the ration card issued to those living below the poverty line. Approximately 88% of the sample have personal bank accounts. This can serve to facilitate targeted subsidies for RPW.

Phone Ownership and Usage

With regard to ownership of phones, while 76% of respondents had access to a phone, personal or shared, hardly 10% of these were smart phones. Only 2% of all RPW know how to make digital payments and 7% could install apps and use them (Figure 6).

Figure 6.

Phone usage and know how.

Among the RPW respondents, 71% and 72% were unaware of the DTC (Figure 7) and Chartr mobile applications (Figure 8), respectively. This indicates the need for targeted dissemination of information.

Figure 7.

Frequency of use of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) app.

Figure 8.

Frequency of use of Chartr app.

Access to Private Motor Vehicles

Of the RPW respondents, 84% lived in households that do not own a vehicle (Figure 9).

Figure 9.

Household vehicle ownership.

Further only 0.4% of RPW possessed a driving license, and 2% had access to the household vehicle (Figure 10).

Figure 10.

Household vehicles available for use by resource-poor women.

The combined lack of ownership and access to personal vehicles, coupled with extremely low rates of possession of driving licenses, results in RPW being disproportionately dependent on public transport and paratransit.

Travel Behavior During COVID-19

The daily per capita trip rate (PCTR) of RPW is 1.9. Of all trips made by the respondents, 72% were made seven days a week, with 99% of these trips being work related. During this period, the RPW respondents did not make any household and care trips, possibly as these were carried out by male members of the family.

In line with the survey criterion that the respondents are public transport users, 81% of all trips were by bus (Figure 11). This was followed by users of shared autorickshaw/e-rickshaw/grameen sewa, at 16%.

Figure 11.

Travel mode.

Last-mile connectivity is primarily undertaken on foot, with 94% of RPW walking to bus stops. Last-mile connectivity trips by private motor vehicle are negligible (Figure 12).

Figure 12.

Last-mile connectivity.

The peak travel times of RPW were observed to be the periods between 11:00 a.m. and midday, and from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (Figure 13).

Figure 13.

Cross-tabulation of trip mode by time and frequency.

This differs from the overall peak times of bus operations, which occur at 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., as observed through bus passenger counts undertaken as part of the survey.

During the peak travel time for RPW, 57% of all trips were conducted by paratransit. The average trip distance ranged from 6 to 8.5 km for bus, and 6.3 km for paratransit. Of all trips undertaken by paratransit, 40%were less than 2.5 km. The average trip time is 34 min (Figure 14), which is lower than the trip time for other women workers in Delhi. An online survey was conducted to understand how other women workers traveled (n = 400). Together this suggests that RPW choose to work close to home either to reduce travel costs or because of time poverty.

Figure 14.

Trip duration (minutes).

Of the RPW respondents, 79% had no travel-related expenses because of Delhi’s free ride scheme for women (Figure 15).

Figure 15.

Travel cost (Indian Rupees per month).

Overall, 10% of RPW spent less than 4% of their monthly income on travel, with 35% of paratransit users spending INR 10 per trip, suggesting cost sensitivity.

Comparison of RPW Mobility Before and During COVID-19

Of all trips made by RPW pre-COVID-19, 90% were work trips and 8% household and care trips. This implies that RPW in Delhi make few non-work-related trips. Pre-pandemic, the PCTR of 1.88 was marginally lower than during the pandemic (1.9). This may also be attributed to underreporting of trips in the pre-COVID scenario because of recall issues. This lower PCTR may be attributed to many of the respondents (49%) being employed as domestic workers. The in-depth interviews suggest that those who were dismissed from their previous employment were working multiple odd jobs to make up the loss of income.

Waiting Time

Over 22% of RPW waited more than 10 min for a bus on average (Figure 16).

Figure 16.

Waiting times, before and during COVID-19 (in min).

These women specified low frequency of buses (34%), inability to board because of overcrowding (27%), and buses not halting at stops (24%) as the reasons for increased waiting time. This indicates a need to improve the reliability of buses.

Next Preferred Mode of Transport

After buses, paratransit emerged as the next preferred mode of transport for RPW. This is attributed to reduced waiting time and availability of service as most RPW reported waiting less than 5 min for paratransit. Of the RPW, 13% did not select another mode, implying that they may not consider an alternative to buses, perhaps because of affordability concerns. With regard to travel cost, however, 25% of RPW spend less than INR 10 per trip. Thus, travel cost could be a significant hurdle in using paratransit, as 79% of RPW do not pay for transport as they travel by bus.

Major Concerns Related to Travel by Buses and Paratransit

Major concerns about bus-based transport for RPW continued to persist after the lockdown. They cited buses not halting after the introduction of the free ride scheme (21%), lack of enforcement of reserved seats (17%), and poor frequency of services as the major concerns. Crowding in buses (21%) was the only major concern that did not persist during COVID-19 (Figure 17).

Figure 17.

Concerns about bus-based travel, before and during COVID-19.

In both cases, safety concerns over sexual harassment and physical distancing were eclipsed by the above concerns. This could indicate the normalization of sexual harassment in public transport, or it could point to a disproportionate dependence on public transport that leads RPW to prioritize accessibility and level of service over the threat of sexual harassment or COVID-19.

Key Findings and Recommendations

The lack of access to personal motor vehicles makes RPW both dependent on public transport and particularly vulnerable to its deficiencies. Though buses cater for the majority of trips, the choice of paratransit by a majority of RPW during their peak travel time points to poor frequency of buses during that time period, or that buses do not travel to their desired destinations. This forces RPW to use more expensive IPT during off-peak hours and indicates a need for differentiated strategies for RPW with respect to public transport and paratransit.

Concerns raised by women in Delhi that persisted before the COVID-19 pandemic, about insufficiency of buses, infrequent services, overcrowding and sexual harassment in public transport and paratransit, and lack of access to private vehicles, continued during the pandemic. While the qualitative data pointed to sexual harassment as a major issue, the surveys indicated that concerns related to safety and physical distancing were eclipsed by concerns related to bus operations, highlighting a need to improve bus operations.

The data in this study show that RPW lose a sizable amount of their potential daily income as they are engaged in household and care activities. COVID-19 exacerbated this economic loss with a majority unable to work during lockdowns and suffering a loss of INR 754 crores. Further RPW tend to work closer to home, in a bid to reduce travel costs or because of time poverty. Improving the quality and accessibility of public transport would improve their access to job opportunities.

High levels of illiteracy have negative implications for RPW in accessing information about public transport. Combined with poor levels of access to smart phones, and digital illiteracy, this puts RPW in danger of being excluded from digital interventions aimed at public transport. The finding that a majority of RPW are unaware of both the DTC and the Chartr app indicates the need for a more effective information dissemination policy. This implies that policies and strategies formulated to provide real-time information (RTI) or disseminate information must consider the low usage and access to smart phones of the target audience.

Overall, a lack of attention to context in the design of gender-responsive measures have been observed. The online round table pointed out the need for the dialogue surrounding urban transport planning to diversify from beyond safety concerns to include women’s access to opportunities, mobility, and ability to access public spaces and urban transport. The KIIs drew attention to the concept of “pink tax,” as well as the digital divide that has a disproportionate impact on RPW. The need emerged for both an economically feasible and gender-sensitive approach to the trade-off between efficiency of public transport and equity.

A series of recommendations to improve the mobility of RPW were crafted considering the above factors (Table 2).

Table 2.

Recommendations to Improve Mobility and Access for Resource-Poor Women (RPW) and timeline for implementation

No.	Recommendation	Years
		0–1	1–3
Cross-thematic recommendations
1	Partner with women’s unions, membership-based organizations	/	–
2	Improve digital literacy of RPW	/	–
3	Create a dedicated team for women’s safety at the Command-and-Control Center (CCC), Transport Department	/	–
4	Provide a multimodal subsidy for RPW	/	/
Recommendations for bus-based transport
5	Improve reliability and seat availability in buses	/	–

Note: The block colour indicates the time it would take to implement each recommendation.

Partner With Women’s Unions and Membership-Based Organizations to Ensure Dissemination of Information

Women’s unions such as the Mahila Trust and SEWA have long advocated for women’s rights and work closely with the government to improve women’s access to resources. The Delhi government should establish a database of women’s unions and membership-based organizations to facilitate both the effective dissemination of information among PRW and effective implementations of schemes aimed at public transport. They can also provide a grassroots perspective to transport policy makers and aid in the creation of inclusive transport policies.

Improve Digital Literacy of RPW

RTI information is generally displayed through passenger information systems, websites, and mobile phone applications. Moreover, in the wake of COVID-19, cashless ticketing has been gaining traction to ensure social distancing. In this scenario, it is imperative to impart digital literacy to RPW. Transport thinktanks can work with MBOs, unions, and civil society organizations and train community mobilizers and volunteers on using the Chartr application, navigating Google Maps, and making digital payments, among others. A training of trainers (ToT) model should be adopted where community mobilizers and volunteers are taught and will in turn teach RPW in their localities.

Create a Dedicated Team for Women’s Safety at the Command-and-Control Center (CCC), Transport Department

In Delhi, a CCC has been established to ensure women’s safety. The existing CCC can be leveraged as a platform to integrate multiple channels of registering complaints and helplines. Currently, these are fragmented, with grievance redressal mechanisms and helplines separate from the CCC.

Women must be provided a channel to report buses failing to halt for them, which was a major concern expressed by RPW in the survey. A system should be established where an SMS with a brief description of the grievance and registration number of the offending public transport vehicle can be sent to a dedicated phone number administered by the CCC. The matter will then be investigated, and the driver and conductor will be fined or have their permits suspended. A dedicated safety team can be set up within the CCC to address any “SOS” alert, complaint, or query related to women’s safety in buses. A more nuanced approach can be taken where women can also send alerts, whether by SMS or app, via mobile devices. As soon as an alert is received, the first response must be a return phone call to the phone number. Based on the urgency of the situation, the operator must determine whether to alert the nearest police station, ambulance, fire station and so forth. The operator must also notify the closest Special Police Unit for Women and Children (SPUVAC) office. In a situation where the female passenger does not respond to the phone call, the bus driver and conductor must be immediately appraised. The nearest police station must also be alerted and given the GPS coordinates of the bus along with the identification details of the passenger.

Provide a Multimodal Mobility Subsidy

Travel in off-peak hours of public transport and affordability concerns have emerged as major hurdles to the mobility of RPW. While Delhi augments its fleet, the free ride scheme for women can be reprogrammed as a broader multimodal subsidy to grant RPW the liberty to make mode choices unconstrained by financial ability. This will offset the financial strain of travel faced by RPW, who lose a substantial amount of their daily income as they are engaged in household and care activities. This research has highlighted the need to expiate the disproportionate impact of any economic crisis on RPW.

The subsidy can be achieved through direct cash transfers of INR 600 per month, an amount calculated based on the percentage of monthly work trips by shared IPT and percentage of bus-based trips with waiting time longer than 10 min. Beneficiaries can initially be identified based on their enrollment in government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), a scheme under the national mission for financial inclusion to ensure universal access to banking facilities through proxy databases of construction workers and databases of MBOs, and then expanded to all women with ration cards, and so forth. The total subsidy to cover RPW workers in Delhi would amount to INR 62 crores per month.

Improve Reliability and Seat Availability in Buses

Over 22% of women reported crowding in buses as a major issue before COVID-19. In the wake of the pandemic, issues related to lack of enforcement of seat reservation and inability to board buses have emerged. To ensure safe and comfortable travel for women in buses, women-only and differently-abled-only doors can be implemented. This will serve not only to ensure access to reserved seats but also to reduce instances of sexual harassment through segregated boarding and alighting. Bus marshals must be provided a dedicated seat in the middle of the bus, to ensure that women can easily approach them. Bus marshals are deployed in Delhi buses to facilitate enforcement of reservation of seats and as first responders to offences such as sexual harassment, theft, and so forth. A free SMS-based RTI service can be created to allow women with basic phones to plan their journeys.

Conclusion

The research findings and recommendations, while derived in the specific context of Delhi, are relevant for other cities in India and South Asia. Public transport is the most predominant mode of transportation for most women in Delhi and across South Asia. However, they face many issues stemming from low fleet size of buses compared with demand, resulting in poor frequency and coverage, overcrowding, sexual harassment, and lack of seat availability. With little to no alternative to public transport, women feel deficiencies in public transport services more acutely than men. COVID-19 has sharpened these inequities, highlighting the need to support the vulnerable and build their resilience. This can be achieved by upholding equitable mobility as a constitutional right, acknowledging the issues women face, and working from both a ground-up and top-down approach to rebuild as a more inclusive public transport system.