the bus stop: an overlooked dimension of women’s perception of security while using public...

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The Bus Stop: An overlooked dimension of

women’s perception of security while using

public transportation

Morgan Campbell, Rutgers University

Presented at Transforming Transportation 2016

The Bus StopAn overlooked dimension of women’s

perception of security while using

public transportation

Morgan Campbell | Bloustein School of Planning and Policy | campbell.morganf@gmail.com

Women waiting after work, Trivandrum.

Bangalore’s Namma Metro

Barakhamba road bus stop

Vayu Senabad bus stop (photo credit: Carol Mitchell/flickr)

Interstate bus stand, Bangalore

Bus depot Chennai

Bangalore

• Summer 2013

• Focus on the IT sector

• Mode choice and why

• Women

• Men

• Company bus vs BMTC

(public) bus

• Ideal mode choice

Source: Dittrich, 2007

“On the Infosys bus you only have

Infoscians, you can trust them because

they are colleagues. On the public

buses we have people of all kinds,

we don’t know what background they

have, what sort of job they are doing

so we have to be on the defensive.”

-Woman, age 28

Delhi

• Jan-August 2015

• Qualitative research• Interviews

• Oral surveys

• Targeted populations• Domestic workers

• Service workers

• Security personal

• Women PGs

• Comparative study• Bus vs Metro

• Proportion of women users

• Time of day

• Mode

• Geographic location

Preliminary Findings

Bus interviews

• 52% of women cited cost as the

primary reason for choosing the

bus.

• 56% of women had the option to

take the metro instead of the bus for

their journey.

• 80% of women said what they liked

best about the bus was how cheap

it was.

• 100% of women had experienced

some form of harassment while

traveling by bus.

Metro interviews

• Approximately 90% of women cited

comfort and safety as the primary

reason for choosing the metro.

• 25% of women had experienced

some form of harassment.

• The majority of occurrences

happened while traveling to the

metro or while entering the station.

• 169 out of 173 women said that

presence of metro security

personnel increased their feeling of

security.

Chhattisgarh Working Women’s Society (In depth interviews)

Challenges

For Women Users

• Poor maintenance of bus shelter

• Lack of information regarding routes

• Inconsistent timings

• Rude drivers, ticket collectors

• Disinvestment in basic services

• A failure to feel independent and

self sufficient

For Researchers/Data Collection

• Lack of comprehensive data

• Unwillingness for cross-

collaborative research among

agencies, departments, etc…

• Replication of studies due to limited

knowledge of existing work

• A failure to translate findings into

advocacy

Where to start?

Tradition of hand/sign painting

Special Thanks:

Taru Jain

Assistant Professor

School of Planning & Architecture

tarujain84@gmail.com

Purnima Parida

Principal Scientist

Central Road Research Institute

punam31@gmail.com

United States-India Educational

Foundation (Fulbright)

Infosys Bangalore

Initiative for Policy Dialogue