Planning and Designing
Transport Systems to Ensure
Safe Travel for Women

04

Discussion Paper 2014 • 04
Geetam Tiwari

Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi,
India

Planning and designing transport systems
to ensure safe travel for women

Discussion Paper No. 2014-04

Geetam TIWARIMoUD Chair Professor and Coordinator TRIPP
Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

March 2014

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMENTABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 4
2. SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT: ACCESS VS MOBILITY ............................................................. 5
3. THE SHELTER-TRANSPORT-LIVELIHOOD LINK ..................................................................... 7
4. TRAVEL PATTERN OF WOMEN IN INDIAN CITIES ................................................................. 9
5. SAFETY PERCEPTIONS OF BICYCLE, PEDESTRIANS AND
PUBLIC TRANSPORT USERS ...................................................................................................... 14
6. IMPACT OF CURRENT PLANNING PRACTICES AND URBAN ROAD DESIGNS ............... 15
Urban planning and Safety................................................................................................................. 15
7. URBAN ROAD DESIGN AND SAFETY ...................................................................................... 16
8. WHAT CAN BE DONE?................................................................................................................. 17

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

1. INTRODUCTION

Safe travel for all road users is a prerequisite for ensuring sustainable and inclusive cities.
Providing safe transport system is an objective for sustainable transport, because risk of
injuries and deaths from traffic crashes has become a major public health concern worldwide(WHO, 2011)1. At the same time safety of pedestrians, bicyclists and public transport users
also has an impact on the choice of these modes. Risk to pedestrians, bicyclists and public
transport users can be reduced by appropriate street designs and neighbourhood environment.
Safer pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure results in increased use of these environment
friendly modes (Tiwari & Jain, 2012)2. Safe travel options for women in general and specifically
low income women are important for addressing livelihood and poverty issues for a significant
proportion of urban population in low income countries like India. In this paper we present
data from two Indian cities- Vishakhapattanam( a city in south India with a population of 1.7
million persons) and Delhi the capital city of India having 16.4 million residents to compare thetravel patterns of women and men. The household survey in Delhi focused on low income
settlements since poverty adds another dimension to gender bias. The survey repeated after
ten years shows that the travel patterns remain unchanged. Women travel shorter distances,
are dependent on lower cost modes-walking and public transport and perform multi-purpose
linked trips. In view of the sustainability requirements, lower mobility of women must be
addressed by ensuring safe accessibility to employment opportunities by walking, bicycles andpublic transport. The paper concludes with possible interventions required to ensure safe andsecure travel of women at land use planning level and street design level.
Worldwide men have higher risk of getting involved in traffic crashes than women (WHO).This
is primarily attributed to lower presence of women on the road as compared to men, anddifferential risk taking behaviour observed in men and women. Safety and security of transportsystems may have an impact on not only the choice of destination and mode used but thedecision to travel itself.
Travel patterns of men and women are different has been reported by different researchers fora long time. Travel patterns of men and women differ across geographical locations, city size
and income groups. In general women travel shorter distances, are more dependent on nonmotorized modes of transport and public transport. Hanson (2010) 3 concludes that the fact1.

WHO (2011), World Health Statistics, World health Organisation, Geneva

2

G Tiwari, D Jain(2012) Accessibility and safety indicators for all road users: case study Delhi BRT- Journal of Transport Geography, 20123

Susan Hanson(2010) Gender and Mobility: new approaches for informing sustainability, Gender,
Place and Culture: A journal of Feminist Geography, 17:1, 5-23

4

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

the women have lower mobility than men, many feminist researchers see spatial mobility as
empowering and not oppressive. Lower mobility as shown by shorter distances travelled,
mostly dependent on walking, and public transport is equated to lower access to employment
opportunities and lower status on women. However, the understanding of sustainability will
require revisiting the interpretation of lower mobility in view of the requirements of sustainable
development and sustainable transport. Empowerment of women will have to come throughenhanced accessibility to various opportunities without dependence on motorized mobility.

2. SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT: ACCESS VS MOBILITY

Sustainable transport is often defined as one that meets the mobility needs of all users withleast adverse effects on users as well as non-users. Adverse effects are in the form of poor air
quality, risk of traffic crashes, lack of activity leading to obesity and other life style relateddiseases. Least adverse effects on users and non-users is possible when majority city residents
have to travel short distances thus reducing the exposure to air pollution as well risk fromtraffic crashes. Short distances are conducive to travel by active (walking and bicycling)transport which is environment friendly along with giving health benefits to the users.
Walking, bicycling and public transport have least adverse effects on environment both local
and global. These are also known as active transport, because the users are involved inphysical activity which results in health benefits.
In the past few decades sustainable transport has become one of the main goals of transport
planning and policy in many countries. Sustainable transport has also been viewed as theexpression of sustainable development (Castillo and Pitfield 2010)4. There is no universally
accepted definition of sustainable transport. Often sustainable transport concept has been
framed by proposing principles and desirable attributes of the system. “Sustainable transport”
arising from the concept of sustainable development, decouples dependence on oil; constrains
GHG emissions; encapsulates having accessibility to basic daily needs consistent with humanand ecosystem health; and meets affordability, equity and efficiency requirements byproviding fairness across and within. (Bongardt et al. 2011; ECMT 2004; CST 2002; May et al.
2001)5 proposed five objectives for sustainable transport:

4

Castillo, H. & Pitfield, D.E., (2010). "ELASTIC - A methodological framework for identifying andselecting sustainable transport indicators." Transportation Research Part D: Transport andEnvironment, 15, (4)5Bongardt, D., Schmid, D., Huizenga, C., & Litman, T., (2011), "Sustainable Transport Evaluation- Developing Practical Tools for Evaluation in the Context of the CSD Process: Commission on
Sustainable Development : Nineteenth Session , Background Paper No. 10." United Nation
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, CSD19/2011/BP10.

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

Liveable streets and neighbourhoods
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

Protection of the environment
Equity and social inclusion
Health and safety
Support of a vibrant economy.

Protection of the environment is an important objective which includes both local environmentand global environment. These can be achieved by addressing a). urban structures and land
use plans which affect the distances people have to travel to access various activities, b).
Modes that people chose to travel, c). Vehicle technologies and d). type of fuel used indifferent vehicles. Liveable streets and compact mixed use neighbourhoods allow people to
make short trips. These trips can easily be made by walking and bicycles which have the least
adverse impact on environment. When majority trips are by walking and bicycles, it causes
least damage to the environment. Longer trips which are dependent on motorized modes
cause least damage to the environment if most of it is by public transport: majority by bus andmaybe some long trips by rail based systems. Lastly, trips which are made by personal
motorized modes: cars and motorized two wheelers must have the smallest share, as small as
possible, and the adverse impact caused by them can be minimized by efficient vehicle
technology and cleaner fuels.
Distinction between the concept of Accessibility and mobility is important for sustainable andequitable transport debate. Accessibility is a description of the proximity to destinations of
choice and the facilitation offered by the public transport systems to reach them (Anand,2007)6. Accessibility as defined by Burns (1979) includes the as ability of an individual to beable to participate in an activity or set of activities (Odoki et al., 2001) 7. This definition has
been extended to include temporal and individual components along with spatial andtransportation components (Geurs and Ritsema van Eck, 2001) 8. A transport project has both

CST, (2002), "Definition and Vision of Sustainable Transportation." The Centre for Sustainable
Transportation.
ECMT, (2004), "Assessment and Decision Making for Sustainable Transport." OECD Publications
Service.
Feler, L. & Henderson, J.V., (2011). "Exclusionary policies in urban development: Underservicing migrant households in Brazilian cities." Journal of Urban Economics, 69, (3) 253-272
May, T., Jarvi-Nykanen, T., Minken, H., Ramjerdi, F., Matthews, B., & Monzon, A., (2001),"Cities' Decision-Making Requirements: PROSPECTS Deliverable 1." Institute of Transport
Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, U.K..
6

Anand, A., 2007. Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) Methodology for Urban Transport
Projects. Indian Institute of Technology

7

Odoki, J.B., Kerali, H.R., & Santorini, F., (2001). "An integrated model for quantifying
accessibilitybenefits in developing countries." Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 35, (7),601-623

8

Geurs, K. T. & Ritsema van Eck, J. R., (2001), "Accessibility measures: review and applications;
Evaluation of accesibility impacts of land use transport scenarios, and related social and6

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

positive and negative impacts on the accessibility possibilities of all road users depending on
the type of mode being used. People make travel choices so that they can participate inproduction, consumption and leisure activities of their choice. Hence, accessibility cannot bemeasured just by mobility i.e. the distance travelled or by destinations in reach for a particularmode-user group.
Mobility is both the ability to travel to destinations of choice and the amount of movement
necessary to do so. By definition, the ability to travel of the household is seen as positive
mobility from the socio-economic perspective because indicates that people are traveling for
employment, education and other purposes thus enabling value addition to the households. On
the other hand the amount of movement is seen as negative mobility from the socio-economic
perspective because it uses resources of the household, like time and money, which could
have been better utilized to upgrade the quality of life of the household.
Women travel patterns need to be examined in the context of sustainable transport system as
discussed in the previous section with an added dimension of transport-shelter-livelihood link.

3. THE SHELTER-TRANSPORT-LIVELIHOOD LINK

The intimate interconnections between urban transport and land-use patterns are well-known
though there has been little analysis of the connections with poverty (which are somewhat
complex). Common features of the land-use patterns of large low-income cities in Asia include:high urban densities (usually well above 150 persons per hectare) despite a generally low-risebuilt fabric; intense mixing of different land uses at a fine scale, especially in inner areas; lowincome settlements interspersed or mixed with other land-uses throughout the urban area; ahigh proportion of jobs (in both secondary and tertiary sectors) located in the central and innerareas of the city; however, within this inner area jobs are often relatively dispersed with nointense concentrations of employment (Barter 1998)9.
Such land-use features developed in response to the requirements of transport systems are
dominated by non-motorized transport, buses, and para-transit systems. They also developedin ways that tended to minimize the need for expensive motorized travel. For example, highdensities and intense mixing of land uses allow for many daily trips to be very short and thus
able to be made by foot or by non-motorized vehicle. Once a city grows too large to be served
primarily by non-motorized transport, a relatively centralized pattern of employment maintains
a potential to support plentiful bus and jitney service (although for various reasons thispotential is not always realized). Although there are some problems associated with high levels
economic impacts." National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Netherlands, RIVM
report 408505 006
9Barter, A. R. P., (1998). "Transport and Urban Poverty in Asia: A Brief Introduction to the Key
Issues.".

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

of crowding, such an urban form is apparently in many ways intrinsically pro-poor, in theabsence of significant numbers of private cars.
However, a number of trends associated with motorization (and other factors) have begun toundermine the pro-poor features of many large Asian cities (and have created other transportrelated problems). As upper and middle-income earners have acquired private vehicles, realestate developers increasingly locate new developments to be easily accessible by private
vehicle, even if this leaves them inaccessible by public transport and non-motorized transport.
To the extent that high-speed, high-capacity roads have been built, they have tended toencourage haphazard development in long corridors, resulting in longer trip distances forresidents of such areas. Although Asian cities have spread out to some extent as they havemotorized, this is a slow process and most still retain high urban densities, especially in theirinner areas. High-density cities are unsuited to high rates of private car use and inevitably
have low levels of road capacity. Congestion has therefore become serious even at low levelsof motorization. The rise of private vehicular traffic has decreased bus speeds and service
levels drastically and made non-motorized transport dangerous and difficult. Travel for thepoor has thus become slower and more difficult even as other economic and planning forces
have caused many of them to be displaced from central informal settlements to more
peripheral locations (Immers and Bijil 1993)10.
Many economic development programs completely miss the link between housing location,
livelihoods of the poor and transport. Access to affordable transport is one of the mostimportant factors in determining livelihoods for the urban poor. A survey by SPARC in central
Bombay of pavement dwellers showed that 80% walked to work. Their choice came down to:“they were willing to live in congested dwellings without safety or security just so they could
walk to work” (Gopalan 1998)11. Other studies have found similarly very limited mobility by
the urban poor. Some of the urban poor have to make a different trade-off by accepting long
travel distances from a peripheral location in order to obtain affordable but secure housing. For
some this trade-off is forced on them, since in many cases relocation sites (after evictions) areoften in remote locations that take little or no account of access issues (Fernandes 1998)12
Urban transport interacts with employment issues for the poor in two main ways: indirectly byproviding access to employment opportunities and directly through employment of low-income
people in the transport sector. The relative immobility of the urban poor, especially poor
women is a central fact in their lives and severely limits their employment options. It has
already been mentioned above that the poor must trade-off the time and cost required toaccess livelihood opportunities against security and quality of housing.
10

Immers, B. & Bijil, J., (1993). "Slum Relocation and NMTs in Bangkok." Transportation
Research Board, Paper # 93CF105,

11

Gopalan, P. "Circumscribed Existence: Women's mobility and settlements development.", In
SUSTRAN Network General Assembly, June 2 - 5, 1998, Manila, Mumbai: Swayam Shikshan
Prayog - SSP.
Habitat, U. "Mumbai: Swayam Shikshan Prayog - SSP.", In SUSTRAN Network General
Assembly - June 2 - 5, 1998.

12

Fernandes, K., (1998), "Forced Evictions and Housing Rights Abuses in Asia (Second Report
1996 - 1997)." City Press, Karachi, Pakistan.

8

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

Understanding of gender issues in the transport context is of vital relevance. Six out of ten of
the world's poorest people are women who must, as the primary family caretakers andproducers of food, shoulder the burden of tilling land, grinding grain, carrying water andcooking (UNDP, 2014)13. This has marginally changed since 1995 when women were estimatedto account for 70% of those living in poverty worldwide (UNDP, 1995). The growing literature
on women and transport has also clearly shown that they tend to have different travel needs
deriving from the multiple tasks they must perform in their households and in theircommunities (Greico and Turner, 1997) 14. Low-income women tend also to be less mobile thanmen in the same socio-economic groups. They are more dependent on walking and tend tohave less access to any bicycles or motorcycles in a household. Social restrictions hinder
women’s mobility in many cultures (Gopalan, 1998). Efforts to increase the mobility of poor
women may face stiff resistance from those who feel threatened or offended by such direct
empowerment of women (UNDP, 1998). Sexual harassment on streets and on public transport
is also an issue. Since many more women than men are the care-givers of frail-elderly people,
people with disabilities and of children, the transport problems of these disadvantaged groups
also impact disproportionately on women. Poverty, of course, compounds each of thesedisadvantages.
Gender bias can result when there is a failure to recognize that the same service delivers
different benefits to men and women. For example, the poorest households are often locatedon the edges of urban centres where public transport services are infrequent. In Delhi, forexample, the relocation of squatter communities to the outer periphery of the city has been
especially damaging to women’s ability to earn a living. Female unemployment in the newsquatter camps rose by 27% compared to 5% for men (Moser and Peake, 1987, cited in Alling
et al 1997)15.

4. TRAVEL PATTERN OF WOMEN IN INDIAN CITIES

Differences in travel patterns between men and women are different. This been reported byearlier studies from Delhi (Anand and Tiwari, 2005)16; and Chennai (Srinivasan, 2008)17. This

13

Gender and Poverty reduction, UNDP, www.undp.org

14

Grieco, M. and Turner, J. 1997, Gender Poverty and Transport, UN International Forum on
Urban Poverty (HABITAT), Florence, http://www.art.man.ac.uk/transres/gender.htm

15

Alling, G., E. Brazier, D. Burjorjee, A. Camoens and A. Webber, 1997, Mainstreaming Gender inTransportation projects: A Toolkit, Report to the Gender Analysis and Policy Group, The WorldBank mimeo

16

Anand, Anvita, Geetam Tiwari(2006), A gender perspective of the shelter-transport-livelihood
link: the case of poor women in Delhi, Transport Reviews, Vol26,No. 1, pages 63-80

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

9

PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

section reports data from a smaller city compared to Delhi and Chennai-Vishakhapattnam, andrevisits low income households in Delhi to understand the time trend of women travel.
Visakhapatnam is the second largest urban agglomeration in Andhra Pradesh with a populationof about 1.73 million (Census, 2011). It has been and continues to be a hub of economic
activity in the region, thereby leading to more and more people migrating to the city. Table 1
shows travel pattern of men and women as recorded in a recent survey18.
Table 1. Trip Purpose of Women and men in Vishakhapattanam (ITRANS, 2012)
Women

Purpose

Nos.

men
%

Nos.

Total
%

Nos.

%

Work

420

11.0%

2868

62.7%

3288

39.2%

Education

1246

32.7%

1331

29.1%

2577

30.7%

0

0.0%

1

0.0%

1

0.0%

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

Shopping

200

5.2%

105

2.3%

305

3.6%

Recreation

35

0.9%

34

0.7%

69

0.8%

Access to PT
Access to Auto(3taxi)

wheelerSocial

6

0.2%

11

0.2%

17

0.2%

Religious

1880

49.3%

99

2.2%

1979

23.6%

Personal

18

0.5%

117

2.6%

135

1.6%

Others

9

0.2%

8

0.2%

17

0.2%

Total

3814

4574

8388

Work trips among females are less than males and religious trips (going to place of worship) ismuch more amongst females as compared to males. Trips made for all other purposes remains
more or less the same. Table 2 shows use of different modes.
Table 2. Travel mode of Women and men in Vishakhapattanam (ITRANS, 2012)

Mode

Women
Nos.

Men
%

Nos.

Total
%

Nos.

%

Car

31

0.8%

97

2.1%

128

1.5%

M2W

195

5.1%

1061

23.2%

1256

15.0%

Bus

482

12.6%

968

21.2%

1450

17.3%

Auto - Direct

205

5.4%

293

6.4%

498

5.9%

17

Srinivasan, S.(2008), A partial exploration of the accessibility of low-income women: Chengdu,
China and Chennai, India in Gendered mobilities, ed. T. Cresswell and T.P. Uteng, 143-58,
Burlington, VT, Ashgate Publishing Co.

18

LCMP for Vishakhapattam, by ITRANS as part of UNEP funded project –LCMP for Indian cities,
2012

10

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

Auto -Shared

114

3.0%

175

3.8%

289

3.4%

Walk

2711

71.1%

1616

35.3%

4327

51.6%

Bicycle

29

0.8%

265

5.8%

294

3.5%

Cycle-Rickshaw

1

0.0%

10

0.2%

11

0.1%

Company Bus

33

0.9%

49

1.1%

82

1.0%

Taxi

2

0.1%

1

0.0%

3

0.0%

Others

9

0.2%

37

0.8%

46

0.5%

Total

3812

4572

8384

Walking has the highest share of trips; however, this is much more the case for women thanmen. The use of motorized two wheeler and bus transport is more marked for men.
Tables 3 and 4 show trip distance and trip time. Women travel shorter distances, however
travel time is similar, showing dependence of women on non-motorized slower modes oftransport.
Table 3. Trip length (km) of Women and men in Vishakhapattanam (ITRANS, 2012)

Distance (km.)

Women
Nos.

Men
%

Nos.

Total
%

Nos.

%

<1

2678

70.6%

1810

39.7%

4488

53.7%

1-3

510

13.4%

1010

22.1%

1520

18.2%

3-5

223

5.9%

545

12.0%

768

9.2%

5-10

222

5.8%

656

14.4%

878

10.5%

>10

162

4.3%

539

11.8%

701

8.4%

Total

3795

4560

8355

Table 4. Trip Time of Women and men in Vishakhapattanam (ITRANS, 2012)

Time (mins.)

Women
Nos.

Men
%

Nos.

Total
%

Nos.

%

<10

1767

46.3%

1146

25.1%

2913

34.7%

10-20

1180

30.9%

1488

32.5%

2668

31.8%

20-30

404

10.6%

874

19.1%

1278

15.2%

30-50

306

8.0%

595

13.0%

901

10.7%

50-70

103

2.7%

289

6.3%

392

4.7%

>70

54

1.4%

182

4.0%

236

2.8%

Total

3814

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

4574

8388

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

Figure 1 and 2 show trip purpose and travel mode used by income groups.
Figure 1. Trip purpose of Women and Men in different income groups
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%

Work

40.0%

Education

30.0%

Shopping

20.0%

Recreation

10.0%

Social

0.0%
%

%

Women

%

Men

< Rs 10,000

%

Women

Men

Rs 10,000 - 50,000

%

%

Women

Men

Religious> Rs 50,000

Figure 2. Travel Mode of Women and Men in Different income groups
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%

Car
M2W
Bus
Auto - Direct
Auto -Shared
Walk
%
Women

%
Men

< Rs 10,000

%
Women

%
Men

Rs 10,000 - 50,000%%

BicycleWomen Men
> Rs 50,000

With increase in income share of work trips increase in women, however it remains lower thanmen. Share of religious trips seems to decrease amongst women with increase in income.
Figure 2 shows dominance of walk trips amongst women as compared to men, however withincrease in income this gap seems to reduce. Similarly with increase in come, gap in public
transport trips amongst women and men seem to be narrowing, higher income men andwomen have similar share of trips on public transport. Bicycle users are more amongst men ascompared to women.
12

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

These trends are similar to reported by earlier authors showing 83% women trips were walking
trips and 63% men trips were walking trips in Chennai, India. ( Srinivasan, 200819). Anandand Tiwari (2006) reported similar trends observed in Delhi in 2001 of low income households.
Women either walk to work or use public transport. Share of women walking to work is muchhigher (52%) than men(26%).
A follow up survey(TRIPP, 2012) done in Delhi of low income households shows more women
employed in informal employment as compared to men(86% vs 74%). Amongst employedpersons, women are more dependent on walking as compared to employed men. Use of
bicycle is negligible amongst women, and bus use is much less than men. Differences in travel
trends observed in 2001 remain unchanged after ten years.
Table 5. Travel mode used by employed men and women(Low income households in Delhi, 2012)
Mode of Travel
Walk
BicycleBus

Employed Persons
49%
15%
23%

Unemployed persons
87%
2%
8%

Employed Men
34%
22%
27%

Employed Women
86%
1%
13%

Two important conclusions emerge from this data. Women are dependent on walking
regardless of income differentiation. There is a significant difference in distances travelled by
women and men, however, travel time is similar, implying that men have higher spatial
accessibility. Lower use of bicycles and public transport has been observed earlier (Anand andTiwari, 2006). In lower income groups, women may have lower access to bicycle both due tolower ownership of vehicles as well as inequality amongst men and women in households. Men
have the ‘first right’ over the vehicle owned by households. Lower use of public transport by
low income women is also due to cost implications of public transport. A subsidized public
transport also remains prohibitively expensive to a significant proportion of the population(Tiwari,2002)20.
For a shortest trip by bus in Delhi the monthly expenditure would be at least Rs. 600 perperson. If two persons travel in a household, this would require a monthly income of about
Rs.12000-15000 assuming at least 10% income will be spent on transport needs.

19

Srinivasan, S, 2008, A spatial exploration of the accessibility of low income women: Chengdu ,China and Chennai, India. In Gendered mobilities, ed T. Cresswell and T.P. Uteng, 143-58

20

Tiwari, G., (2002). "Urban Transport Priorities: Meeting the Challenge of Socio-economic
Diversity in Cities, a Case Study of Delhi, India." Cities, 19, (2) 95-103

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

5. SAFETY PERCEPTIONS OF BICYCLE, PEDESTRIANS AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT
USERS

Lower use of bicycle and public transport is observed in middle income and high income
households also. Lack of safe infrastructure and fear from crime has been reported as
one of the most important reasons for not using bicycles for short trips (Jain andTiwari,2011)21. This study reported survey of current bicyclists and potential bicyclist in
Pune, India. Most cyclists in Indian cities are not using bicycles by choice. However, there
is a huge potential of cycle trips due to presence of short trips and high ownership ofbicycles amongst middle and high income households in Indian cities. The survey
targeted current cyclists (captive cyclists) and potential cyclists both. The current captive
cyclists and potential cyclists, both attach higher scores/ranks (consider it mostimportant or important) to physical safety (up to 75% in captives and 82% in potential
cyclists). This is closely followed by the social security (62% in captive users and 58% in
potential users). Twenty eight percent of captive and potential cyclists consider
conditions at intersections as barrier to cycling. Preferences of women and men forbicycle routes show similar trends except a few variables. Women attach lower weights tointersections and other barriers as compared to men. Women also gave higher weight tosocial security aspects, informal land use presence and formal land use mix. This further
emphasizes the importance of social security for women.
Figure 3. Ranking of variables for safe bicycle route by women and men(Jain, 2011)
3.50

females

male

3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50

21

14

Jain Himani and Geetam Tiwari(2011), Captive cyclists vs potential users:Route chicefactrs in Indian Context, TRIPP research Report, IIT Delhi

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

Perception of high risk from traffic crashes as pedestrian, bicycle user and public
transport commuters has been reported by other researchers from other Indian cities aswell (Rankawat and Tiwari,2013)22. Rankawat et al. reported the results of pedestrian
preferences about the pedestrian facilities, across and along the road, in Delhi, India tounderstand how built environment could be improved to facilitate pedestrian movement.
The study showed that usage of subways is less by female respondents, zebra crossing isconvenient in usage but not safe and usage of the footpaths can be increased byincreasing safety. The study also showed that the majority of the people do not find it
safe to walk in Delhi with the present state of street lighting. Women and men again
showed different trends in using different facilities. The study reported that there wasless use of subways by female respondents as compared to their male counterparts anduse of subways was positively related with convenience perception. As the pedestrians
perceived subways as more and more convenient, they tend to use it more. Cheung andLam (1998)23 also found that pedestrians prefer escalators to stairways. Age, gender andconvenience perceptions are statistically significant for the use of zebra crossing, whilesafety perception is not statistically significant. Use of zebra crossings was preferred by
women.
Convenience perception is statistically significant for the use of foot over bridge (FOB).
Gender parameter is approximately 83% significant, implying that there was less use offoot over bridge by female respondents as compared to their male counterparts. Thesefindings can be used to redesign safe pedestrian crossing facilities for all in cities.

6. IMPACT OF CURRENT PLANNING PRACTICES AND URBAN ROAD DESIGNSResettlement Policies of low income residents have led to lower access to employment
opportunities for all but more for women. Most of urban landuse policies have not beenvery effective in addressing the needs of poor households who locate close toemployment opportunities in the city, often squatting on the land not designated forresidential use as per the master plan. However, this location results in short travel
distances for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Urban planning and Safety
City planning policies which include the location of different activities, location ofresidential areas and planning of transport networks influence the choice of transportmodes as well as distances that various people have to travel. Thus exposure to roadtraffic risk is influenced by the planning policies at city level. Mixed land use patterns
reduce the length of trips and thus exposure to road traffic injuries. Often poor
households are relocated at the outskirts of the city limits where land is cheap. This
results in long pedestrian and bicycle trips increasing exposure to road traffic crashes.
Thus road traffic risk to different road users is influenced by the city planning policies.
22

Rankawat, Shalini; Tiwari, Geetam, and Single, Nikita (2013), Analysis of Pedestrian
Perception towards Pedestrian facilities, TRIPP Research Report, IIT Delhi

23

Cheung, C.Y., Lam, W.H.K., 1998. Pedestrian route choices between escalators andstairways in metro stations. J. Transport. Eng. 124, 277-285.

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 2014

15

PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

Anand (2007)24 showed, for poor households relocated to new areas in Delhi to makespace for metro construction in Delhi, there was a significant impact on the indicators ofaccessibility and mobility. The land-use accessibility deteriorated as distance toeducation, health services and other urban services increased for 52%, 63% and 52% of
the households respectively. The transport accessibility deteriorated even more as
distance to bus stop increased for 72% of the households and the bus frequency
decreased, on an average, from 5 min to 63 min (almost 13 times). The mobility of thehouseholds increased significantly. The per capita trip rate for work increased for 49% of
the households and decreased for 30%, implying change in the number of trips made forwork in the households. The share of bicycles used decreased for 59% of the households.
The mobility indicators for travel to work – distance, time and cost –increased for 83%,
82% and 61% of the households respectively.
The case study from Delhi shows how the land use policies supporting the official Delhi
Master plan result in relocating poor households to the outskirts of the city toaccommodate transport infrastructure like road expansion or the metro. This has resulted
in increased travel distances and travel time for most households. The longer walking
and bicycle trips on roads without any dedicated facilities for theses modes increase therisk of getting involved in a fatal crash. The current relocation policies increase thevulnerability of the current vulnerable road users. The land use policies must ensure that
especially the poor households, who cannot afford any form of motorized travel, arelocated close to employment opportunities resulting in short travel distances. This will
result in reducing the risk of fatal crashes because the distances and travel time will
reduce in addition to increasing the accessibility to education, health facilities andemployment opportunities.

7. URBAN ROAD DESIGN AND SAFETY

At design level, design of road infrastructure (road cross section, carriageway width,intersection design), facilities for pedestrians, bicycles and public transport users
influence the risk taking behaviour of road users. This includes observance of speed
limits by car and bus drivers, waiting for sufficient gaps by pedestrians and use of zebra
crossings and pedestrian subways. A study (Gupta et al., 2010) 25 was carried out at the
AIIMS flyover interchange in New Delhi. This intersection carries large flows of bus,pedestrian, and motor traffic. The Ring Road, which is a major arterial road, andAurobindo Marg forms the AIIMS grade-separated interchange. Traffic data collection
allowed the study of road user behaviour earlier when the AIIMS junction was an atgrade, signalized intersection and presently when the site is a grade separated
interchange with no traffic signal control. Analysis produced results pertaining to

24

Anand, A., 2007. Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) Methodology for Urban
Transport Projects. Indian Institute of Technology.

25

Gupta, U., G. Tiwari, N. Chatterjee, J. Fazio,(2010) Case Study of Pedestrian Risk
Behaviour and Survival Analysis, Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation
Studies, Vol.8, 201016

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

pedestrian crossing behaviour as a function of observable pedestrian, environment, andtraffic characteristics.
The study showed that higher percentages of vehicles are traveling with higher speeds inall categories after reconstruction. Risk to pedestrians has increased because conflicting
vehicle speeds after reconstruction are higher as compared to before reconstruction.
For those pedestrians who crossed at risk, average accepted gap decreased in the afterreconstruction case. They accepted greater risk in each stage of crossing primarily
because of the higher average speeds of the vehicle groups. The speeds increased
21.6%, 22.6%, 15%, 31.6 % for the heavy vehicle, car, motorized three-wheeler, andmotorized two wheeler groups, respectively. The probability of pedestrian fatality with a
specific vehicle group increase 67 percent, 100 percent, 100 percent, and 200 percent,respectively.
Twenty two percent of pedestrians accepted increased risk despite the presence of anearby pedestrian underpass. The study concluded that after the construction of grade
separated junction risk to pedestrians increased substantially both because of higher
speeds of motorized vehicles and because of accepting shorter gaps by pedestrians forroad crossing.
The conventional understanding of measuring performance of a transport infrastructure isbiased towards the car traffic. Level of service of an intersection is measured in terms ofdelay faced by the motorized traffic. Therefore delays faced by motorized traffic atintersections have become a major source of concern for planners, traffic policy and roadowning agencies. Road expansion schemes and signal free junctions have become
synonymous with “improvement” of transport infrastructure. Since problems faced bypedestrians and bicyclists, the two most vulnerable road users are not viewed as majortransport issues, the “improvement” strategies do not take into account impacts onpedestrian movements. The conversion of signalized junction at AIIMS in Delhi to signal
free junction has resulted in increase in motorized traffic and increase in risk faced bypedestrians while crossing the road. However, when road designs include the needs ofpedestrians, bicyclists and public transport vehicles as the Delhi BRT case study
presented, number of crashes can be reduced 26.

8. WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Women have different travel patterns is universally observed and has been reported
several times in the last three decades. The travel choice is embedded in several social
context and complex relationships in the society (Hanson, 2010). The debate on
sustainability has added another dimension to mobility poverty of women. The
sustainability concern requires changing the focus from mobility and enhancing
26

Tiwari, G. & Jain, D. (2012) Accessibility and safety indicators for all road users: case study
Delhi BRT. Journal of Transport Geography, 22 ,87-95

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

accessibility with less dependence on motorized modes especially private cars. An
important change required at all level of interventions is to accept women centric
planning and design as the minimum requirement for inclusive and sustainable
development. As argued by Murthy (2011)27, Urban form and transport needs must berecast based on collective aspirations for public space. In the case of developing
countries like India, enhanced accessibility must ensure safe pedestrian and bicycle
access to various opportunities. Therefore, planning and designing safe transportsystems for women requires intervention at three levels:
Land use planningStreet designs



Public transport infrastructure

Urban planning policies and land use policies decide the location of different activities andlocation of residential areas. Most of these policies have not been very effective in
addressing the needs of poor households who locate close to employment opportunities
in the city often squatting on the land not designated for residential use as per the
master plan. However, this location results in short travel distances for pedestrians andbicyclists. This also provides more employment The case study from Delhi shows how theland use policies supporting the official master plan result in relocating poor households
at the outskirts of the city to accommodate transport infrastructure like road expansion
or metro. This has resulted in increasing travel distances and travel time for mosthouseholds. The longer walking and bicycle trips on roads without any dedicated facilities
for theses modes increase the risk of getting involved fatal crash. The current relocation
policies increase the vulnerability of the current vulnerable road users. If the land use
policies ensure that especially the poor households who cannot afford any form of
motorized travel are located close to employment opportunities resulting in short travel
distances. This will result in reducing the risk of fatal crashes because the distances andtravel time will reduce in addition to increasing the accessibility to education, healthfacilities and employment opportunities.
Street Designs: The conventional understanding of measuring performance of a transport
infrastructure is biased towards the car traffic. Level of service of an intersection ismeasured in terms of delay faced by the motorized traffic. Therefore delays faced by
motorized traffic at intersections have become a major source of concern for planners,
traffic policy and road owning agencies. Road expansion schemes and signal freejunctions have become synonymous with “improvement” of transport infrastructure.
Since problems faced by pedestrians and bicyclists, the two most vulnerable road users
are not viewed as major transport issues, the “improvement” strategies do not take into
account impacts on pedestrian movements.
Improving pedestrian safety requires making pedestrian safety audits and pedestrian
compliant designs mandatory in cities. While improved geometric standards andoperational measures will have an impact on physical safety, policies of encouraging

27

Murthy, Kavya, (2011), Urban Transport and the right to the city, accessibility and mobility
in Marie-Helene Zerah, Veronique Dupont and Stephanie Tawa Lama Rewal (eds), Urban
Policies and the Right to the City in India: Rights, Responsibilities and Citizenship, UNESCO,INDIA and CSH, India, pages 122-132

18

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PLANNING AND DESIGNING TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE SAFE TRAVEL FOR WOMEN

presence of street vendors and activity along the travel corridor will ensure social
security.
Public transport infrastructure: Design of public transport infrastructure which includes
access to public transport stops, the design of the stop, vehicle design will have to
become safety and security compliant. Cardia (2012) has given a list of policy
interventions required to improve public transport safety for all. These are:Public transport safety must be guaranteed during the whole length of the trip: onvehicles, during the waiting time, and on the routes of access to stations and stops.
Every access should be checked and improved.
Old people and women are particularly sensitive to the problems of personal safety on
public transport networks. Increasingly frequent action is required by the operators.
The need of taking immediate action requires a direct connection between staff, theoperational centre and the police.
Lighting, good design, visibility at stops and stations are an essential component increating feelings of security.
In transportation planning, of course there needs to be a hierarchy with pedestrians andcyclists (the most vulnerable group) at the top and car users at the bottom. Instead oftrend projections from the past, we have to depend on scenario building techniques– forinstance, transport planners need to have a city vision; they need to think about how thequality of life in a city would be affected by a particular choice in transport. The choices
made will go a long way in determining people’s behaviour and lifestyles. To do this,planners will need to assess the impact their decisions will make on safety, socioeconomic benefits to different users groups and environmental aspects.

Geetam Tiwari — Discussion Paper 2014-04 — © OECD/ITF 201419

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