Women's needs should be better considered by public transport services

On 9 March 2022, the Committee on Transport and Communications of the Irish parliament was briefed on women’s needs and concerns relating to public transport use. The briefing referred to the results of a report by Transport Infrastructure Ireland “Travelling in a Women’s Shoes”, which was published in 2021.

One of the main findings was that women, specifically those from low-income and ethnic minority groups, relied more on public transport than men. However public transport services were often more aligned to commuting patterns, whereas women use public transport more often to meet care responsibilities. Hence, with their focus on commuting, public transport networks today often do not meet women’s needs as well as they serve those of men.

The report also demonstrated that public transport presents safety and security challenges to women: about one-fifth of women nationwide, and more than one-quarter in Dublin, reported verbal harassment or being made to feel uncomfortable on public transport. Moreover, 11% nationwide and almost a quarter of women in the capital had witnessed violent behaviour and sexual harassment to someone else on public transport. In addition, more than half of women stated that they avoided using public transport at night.

Dr Maria Chiara Leva of the TU Dublin’s school of environmental health adds that safety and security is an important issue for women, particularly those groups that depend on public transport use the most, namely those on low incomes and from ethnic minorities. She says: “Men’s and women’s transport needs are different and recognising these differences will be fundamental to provide more equitable and sustainable mobility services. Women rely on public transport more than men, but many will reject it … if the system doesn’t understand and meet their needs.” Consequently, providing public transport services needs to cater for mobility-for-care-trips, so they should have less radial routing and fare structures that better enable switching between different lines.