Women’s safety in bus-based transport in Delhi could be addressed with more focused interventions than the fare-free transport scheme. This is relevant in the context of centering evidence to reinvent urban transport planning frameworks to mainstream gender equity
In October 2019, Delhi announced fare-free transport for women on all buses in the city. After one month, it was reported that women’s ridership on buses had increased to 40 per cent of the daily ridership. Soon after, multiple cities and state governments implemented this policy measure. The city of Chennai offers fare-free transport on ordinary buses. The Punjab government also introduced fare-free travel for women in government buses in 2021 across the state. Preliminary anecdotal evidence states that it has helped women in peri-urban and rural areas access educational and other opportunities in towns and cities. The government of Uttar Pradesh has also announced that it will introduce fare free travel for women above 60 years in government buses.
There is anecdotal evidence on how fare-free transport has benefited women, but the question remains whether it has improved women’s safety or whether measures focused on safety should have been implemented. Further, where bus-based transport is underprovided in a city like Delhi, to what extent does fare-free transport benefit resource-poor women, in particular?
A research conducted in January 2022, included a sample survey of 1,525 women, which indicated that the fare-free transport scheme had initiated a mode shift to buses. However, 81 per cent of the sample had a graduate or post-graduate degree, with less than 10 per cent identifying as working in the informal sector or as daily wage workers. For women earning less than 10,000 per month, the predominant travel purposes were for leisure and religious purposes, indicating irregular use. For women earning 1,000–20,000 per month, 40 per cent of the respondents used it for work purposes.
The Urban Catalysts conducted research and focused on 800 women workers in the informal economy who travelled by bus and paratransit. These were interviews with women domestic workers, street vendors, construction workers, waste pickers, and others residing in urban villages, resettlement colonies and informal settlements across Delhi, followed up with semi-structured interviews. The contours of our findings revealed some of the challenges regarding the fare-free bus transport scheme. The socio-economic data revealed the following.
- 87 per cent were in the age group of 18–49 years.
- 96 per cent identified as married, with 1.83 earning members in the household.
- Around 74 per cent of women identified as belonging to the Scheduled Castes (45 per cent) and Other Backward Classes (29 per cent).
- 93 per cent of the women had an education up to the 10th grade, with 65 per cent identifying as not literate.
- 56 per cent identified as regular salaried employees, 18 per cent with irregular employment, and 21 per cent as own-account workers.
- All the women in this sample had an Aadhaar card and 88 per cent had a personal bank account.
- Their individual median incomes were 6,000, with 60 per cent of the women earning between 5,000 and 7,499 per month.
- Around 10 per cent of the women had access to a personal or shared smart phone.
These women travelled primarily for work (99 per cent of trips) and were bus users. Around 81 per cent of their work trips were by bus, with 93 per cent walking to and from the bus stops. However, 19 per cent of their travel was by shared paratransit. Resource poor women’s peak hour travel was between 11 am and 12 pm and 2 pm and 3 pm, and 60 per cent of these trips were by shared paratransit. This may be due to the urgency of reaching the workplace, whereas the evening travel may reflect the return journey back home.
Close to a quarter of resource-poor women reported waiting more than 10 minutes for a bus. When asked about the next preferred mode of transport, an overwhelming 86 per cent of women preferred paratransit, and waiting time and availability of service emerged as key parameters, as 70 per cent reported waiting less than 5 minutes for paratransit compared to 42 per cent for buses. The three major concerns for resource-poor women were that buses did not halt for women, reserved seats were not enforced, and there was an unavailability or poor frequency of bus services. The concern about buses not halting for female passengers was attributed to the fare-free transport for women. A female street vendor said, “Bus drivers don’t allow us to board the bus with our bundles. He doesn’t even stop the bus for us. We have to go very early in the morning because the buses remain vacant in the morning. That is why we get seats. If we get late and try to take a bus after 12 pm, the bus drivers won’t allow us to board. Bus drivers don’t allow us to board buses for long distances.”
Women’s ridership has consistently increased from 21 per cent (2011) to 29 per cent (2019) before the fare-free transport scheme was launched. Right after the implementation of the scheme, women’s share was reported to have increased to 40-44 per cent and seems to have stabilised to 33 per cent in 2022-23.
Delhi currently has around 7,000 buses, which are inadequate to serve the needs of its population and require 10,000–12,000 buses. Currently, Delhi does not have adequate bus services for frequent, reliable service. They do not permit street vendors or waste pickers, and bus routes and schedules are not aligned with resource-poor women’s peak hour travel.
Women’s and girls’ safety could be directly improved by implementing key strategies such as the draft Action Plan to strengthen the bus marshals scheme, front women-only doors, enforcing reserved seats or the front part of the bus for women, girls, and senior citizens, a SMS-based system for real-time arrival of bus services, and strengthening grievance redress mechanisms. A mobility subsidy targeted at resource-poor women should be considered in partnership with their representative organisations in the transition to providing safe, frequent, and reliable bus services. These could go a long way in improving the experience and perception of safety and addressing the mobility inequity for women informal workers.
Women’s and girls’ safety could be directly improved by implementing key strategies such as the draft Action Plan to strengthen the bus marshals scheme, front women-only doors, enforcing reserved seats or the front part of the bus for women, girls, and senior citizens, a SMS-based system for real-time arrival of bus services, and strengthening grievance redress mechanisms