Transport Reviews

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/ttrv20

Moving towards an inclusive public transport

system for women in the South and Southeast
Asian region

Ankita Sil, Subeh Chowdhury & Roselle Thoreau

To cite this article: Ankita Sil, Subeh Chowdhury & Roselle Thoreau (2023) Moving towards
an inclusive public transport system for women in the South and Southeast Asian region,
Transport Reviews, 43:6, 1144-1164, DOI: 10.1080/01441647.2023.2200983

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2023.2200983

© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa

UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis
Group

Published online: 19 Apr 2023.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 5122

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Citing articles: 2 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ttrv20
TRANSPORT REVIEWS
2023, VOL. 43, NO. 6, 1144–1164
https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2023.2200983

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Moving towards an inclusive public transport system for

women in the South and Southeast Asian region
Ankita Sila, Subeh Chowdhury a
and Roselle Thoreaub
a
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland,
Auckland, New Zealand; b Te Manatū Waka, Ministry of Transport, Wellington, New Zealand

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Women in South and Southeast Asia encounter unique mobility Received 27 July 2022
barriers which are a combination of poor services by public Accepted 30 March 2023
transport modes and underlying patriarchal societal norms.
KEYWORDS
Although international organisations provide guidelines for Gender; equity; public
national policy makers to develop inclusive public transport transport; women; policy;
systems, women’s mobility remains restricted and unsafe. This developing countries
paper provides a critical review on women’s mobility barriers
from built-environment to policy for public transport ridership. It
includes three main aspects. Firstly, the key barriers encountered
by women from poor service quality, sexual harassment and
patriarchal societal norms. Secondly, the limitations in common
methods adopted to measure these barriers. Finally, the
effectiveness of international guidelines and national policies on
women’s travel needs for public transport ridership. Findings
revealed that women’s mobility barriers in South and Southeast
Asian countries originate from the lack of adequate inclusive
policies and protection laws from authorities. The underlying
patriarchal societal norms form a toxic base, which allow for
severe forms of sexual harassment to take place when riding
public transport and for women to experience victim-blaming, if
the incidents are reported. The paper concludes with knowledge
gaps to assist practitioners and researchers to move toward safer
journeys and development of inclusive public transport systems
for women in developing countries.

1. Introduction
Public transport systems (PT) in developing countries provide unique challenges for
women from the perspective of infrastructure (e.g. service quality, demand and route cov-
erage) and patriarchal societal norms. In South and Southeast Asian countries, PT services
are composed of formal services (mostly train and bus services) and informal, para-transit,
services (such as rickshaws, tuk tuk, boat-taxis and motorised three-wheeler vehicles)
(Gopal & Shin, 2019; Rahman, 2010; Tara, 2011). PT provides a common space which

CONTACT Subeh Chowdhury [email protected] Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,

The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which
this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1145

requires users to be in very close proximity to each other, due to over-crowded vehicles;
an occurrence that is otherwise uncommon in other aspects of South Asian society where
men and women are typically segregated. Most female PT riders experience some form of
sexual harassments which are less common in developed countries (Ceccato, 2017; Lea
et al., 2017). Rate of incidences is very high, with an estimated 90% of women having
experienced harassment at least once in their lifetime (Gekoski et al., 2017; Women UN,
2017). Barriers to safe mobility hinder a woman’s progression in society by limiting
their access to education, health care and employment.
In 2010, the World Bank identified that gendered mobility needs are often unknown by
most government authorities (Clarke, 2010). Lack of disaggregate data on women’s travel
needs has led to missed opportunities in planning and policy development (Thynell,
2016). The Asian Development Bank (ADB) published a “Gender Tool Kit” in 2013 for trans-
portation projects in developing countries (Asian Development Bank, 2013b). In 2016, the
United Nations (UN) launched the Sustainable Development Goal 11 to improve access for
all (United Nations, 2016). However, these goals include only partial realisation of the bar-
riers women face on a daily basis. Without a complete understanding of the barriers,
women’s travel will remain restricted. This paper provides a critical and thought-provok-
ing discussion on challenges encountered on PT journeys from built environment to
policy.
The present study contributes to this knowledge gap and is motivated by the following
questions. What are the knowledge gaps to improve women’s freedom of mobility and
accessibility, in particular, for women from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds?
With leading international organisations emphasising gender mainstreaming over the
past two decades, were these initiatives and strategies successful in improving mobility
for women in South and Southeast Asian countries? The review is undertaken from
three aspects, including a concise discussion on the key barriers faced by women when
using both formal and informal PT modes (Section 3); a review of issues and limitations
of common methods (Section 4); and examining the effectiveness of international guide-
lines for women’s travel on national policies in South and Southeast Asian countries
(Section 5). Lastly, Section 6 concludes with knowledge gaps for future research and rec-
ommendations for transport policy-makers. The outcomes are expected to assist policy-
makers, planners and government organisations in developing strategic directions for
an inclusive PT sector. The next section outlines the steps undertaken for a systematic lit-
erature review.

2. Methodology
Countries with common mobility barriers encountered by women in South and Southeast
Asia were selected. A list of countries from the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was attained.
Bhutan and Singapore are excluded due to infrequent ridership of informal PT modes.
Afghanistan is also excluded as the country has poor PT infrastructure and troubled
with political instability. Countries which are selected include India, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines,
Myanmar, Brunei, Laos and Cambodia. These countries have developing economies,
1146 A. SIL ET AL.

ridership of both formal and informal PT modes, and a common patriarchal socio-cultural
background.
The review includes both scholarly articles and publicly available government docu-
ments related to women’s travel using PT in the selected countries. A systematic

Figure 1. Steps for literature review on women’s travel needs and government documents on the
inclusion of gender in transport policies.
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1147

review approach was undertaken to avoid author-biases and to find a robust set of docu-
ments for review. In addition, a web-search for publicly available government transport
policy documents for each of the selected countries was carried out to determine
inclusion of gender needs at a national level. Figure 1 shows the process for both the sys-
tematic literature review (Step 1–5) and the web-search (Step 6 and 7).

2.1. Systematic literature review

Scholarly papers were searched using mixed methods of “backward and forward snowbal-
ling” and search of keywords within the fields of “title”, “abstract” and “keywords”. The fol-
lowing steps outline the systematic literature review process.

1. Identification of keywords and searching them within the fields of “title”, “abstract” and
“keywords” of well-known databases such as Scopus, Science Direct and Web of
Science. The keywords used for searching papers are Boolean combinations of
“public transport”, transit, travel, mobility, “para transit”, gender, women, female, harass-
ment, violence. Searches were restricted to papers published from year 2000 onwards
to capture relevant work.
2. Around 5917 results yielded from the search. Of them, 255 papers included the
keyword “gender” and/or “transportation” in the title. Papers that included only
gender, and did not focus on transportation were excluded from further review.
3. Studies with “gender” and “transportation” in the title were further sub-categorised
into Category A which included papers based on gender inequalities in PT (including
informal transport), and Category B which included papers on gender inequalities in
transportation systems other than PT. Given the focus on this review is on PT, all
papers in Category B were excluded from further review. All Category A papers (n =
70) carried through to the next step.
4. Backward and forward snowballing of Category A papers was conducted to locate any
additional papers of relevance. References were checked using selected databases to
capture any paper that may have been missed in Step 1. Six additional grey literatures
were added to the total list of papers for review.
5. From the complete list of papers (n = 76), the abstracts were read to finalise the papers
for full review. If a paper’s relevance was unclear from reading the abstract, a complete
reading of the paper was conducted to help the authors with their decision to whether
include or exclude. Twenty papers were excluded as the studies were outside the
scope of the present study. The final number of papers for full review is 56.

The journal articles provided limited knowledge on local government policies. To

determine any initiatives, strategies, a separate review of local and international polices
was undertaken.

2.2. Web-search for public documentations on gender inclusion in transport

policies
A web search was conducted for each of the selected countries (steps 6–7 in Figure 1) to
examine inclusion of gender in existing policies by transport authorities, internationally
1148 A. SIL ET AL.

and nationally for each of the selected countries. Documents since 2000 were searched for
gender equality policies in government websites of transport authorities. Keywords such
as “women”, “female”, “gender”; and “transport”, “public place/space” were used for the
search. In absence of the keywords, contents of the transport policy documents were
carefully examined for any potential provision on gender inclusion. Whereas, in presence
of the keywords, the relevant sections were reviewed. Around 20 local and international
documents were reviewed. Further, the search was not limited to transport policies. It was
extended to other documents such as development plans, and gender action plans.

3. Mobility barriers in public transport

Mobility barriers encountered by women are exacerbated during the peak periods, due to
over-crowded vehicles. Physical harassment can be almost expected during the peak
periods. Most unemployed women carry out their household responsibilities outside
peak periods (Gopal & Shin, 2019; Rahman, 2010; Tara, 2011). The complex socio-cultural
norms in South and South Asian countries commonly encourage separation between
men and women. This makes the close proximity in PT vehicles a unique place for inter-
action, including unwanted. Male passengers often adopt a patriarchal attitude towards
any harassment as bystanders or even perpetrators (Adur & Jha, 2018; Lea et al., 2017;
Valan, 2020). Women either quietly accept harassment at PT as a “normal occurrence”;
take precautions such as travelling in groups; or avoid using PT when possible (Lea
et al., 2017). Sexual harassments are often normalised by using terms such as “eve-
teasing” and it remains a “regular and normal” part of PT ridership. In Islamic countries
such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, religious restrictions on travelling with men
compel women to choose more expensive non-sharing informal modes over subsidised
formal PT services (Hoor-Ul-Ain, 2020). In rare instances when an assault is reported,
women are often blamed for their clothing, time of day and place of travel (Masood,
2018). In an attempt to cope, most women display their martial identity by wearing ver-
milion (sindoor), bangles (chura), or (/and) necklace (mangal sutra) and wear conservative
and culturally acceptable clothing (Neupane & Chesney-Lind, 2014). Patriarchal societal
norms limit women’s freedom of travel using PT and contribute to their experience of
sexual harassment. In addition, there have been a number of cases on harassment and
violence against women by drivers of privately owned services such as Uber. Recently,
in Nepal, electric tempos (Safas) are mostly operated by female drivers to counter this
barrier (Regmi & Yamamoto, 2021).
Poor PT services create additional barriers for women. These include, but not limited to,
over-crowded vehicles and platforms, delays, poorly designed interchanges, and incon-
sistent cost of travelling with informal modes (normally set by negotiation between
driver and passenger). It is common for informal mode drivers to charge more during
off-peak periods. This disproportionately affects women as they prefer to travel during
off-peak hours (Tarigan et al., 2014). Most women do not have an alternative choice
and need to make multiple trip-chains using informal modes despite the proportionately
higher cost in comparison to formal modes (Mahadevia & Advani, 2016; Malik et al., 2020).
The walking distance between modes such as metro and buses can be more than half a
kilometre with up to four level changes (Turner, 2012). Not all level changes can be com-
pleted using escalators, restricting accessibility for women with luggage and/or children
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1149

(Sil et al., 2022). In countries with low literacy rates for females (46% in Pakistan), it is
difficult for women to understand signages and information displays, creating further
obstacles when navigating through stations and interchanges (World Bank, 2022). Fur-
thermore, most operators do not stop vehicles properly, making it difficult for women
with luggage and/or children to board or egress from vehicles (Malik et al., 2020;
Rahman, 2010). Some countries have acknowledged these barriers to women’s travel
with formal PT modes and have taken initiatives to improve women’s transport
choices. Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan
have adopted women-only services in major local cities and also reserved seats for
women in vehicles, despite being rarely enforced (Regmi & Yamamoto, 2021). Countries
such as Malaysia and India provide concessionary travel fares for students and female pas-
sengers (Agrawal & Sharma, 2015). Other countries have taken initiatives to encourage
women to be operators. In Indonesia, an increase in the number of female-operated
motorcycle taxis was seen. In Bangladesh, the conductors in women-only buses are
female. India and Nepal developed policies to generate female-occupied employment
in the transport sector such as owners and drivers of informal modes (Regmi & Yamamoto,
2021).
The barriers discussed in this section on women’s travel conditions are against basic
rights and freedom by limiting women’s ease of access to necessities such as employ-
ment, education and health care facilities (Thynell, 2012). The consequences of these
mobility barriers have left women to remain as second-class citizens, hindering their pro-
gression in society. In addition, victims of harassment do not receive adequate support
(Gekoski et al., 2017; Hoor-Ul-Ain, 2020). The findings have been categorised into four
main themes consisting of socio-cultural norms, poor operational performance, infrastruc-
tural limitations and sexual harassment. Table 1 provides a summary of critical factors for
each dimension and main findings for each factor.

4. Common methods for data collection and limitations

Studies predominately on women’s perceptions of safety and their transport choices in
South and Southeast Asian countries commonly use questionnaires for data collection.
Major limitations discussed in research studies include sample size and targeted popu-
lation groups (Natarajan, 2016; Sham et al., 2012; Verma et al., 2020). Sample size com-
monly range between 120 and 380 respondents for web-based and paper surveys.
Limited sample sizes create inability to represent the population and intersectional
groups of women. Only three studies conducted household travel surveys at a large
scale. The sample size of these household surveys, with around 2500 participants along
with in-depth interviews with 20–50 PT riders (Gopal & Shin, 2019; Neupane &
Chesney-Lind, 2014). Research budget and response rate limit the sample size, making
it difficult to include lower socio-economic groups, which require more resources. Tar-
geted population groups are usually those who are easily accessible due to their literacy
and means of communication (access to internet) such as commuters, employed women
and university students. Only two studies included the journey experiences of women
from low socio-economic groups (Hossain & Susilo, 2011; Rivera, 2010b; Tarigan et al.,
2014). This limits the overall understanding of women’s journey experiences from
1150 A. SIL ET AL.

Table 1. Mobility barriers for each dimension.

Factor Mobility barriers Key references
Dimension: Socio-cultural barriers
Patriarchal society and . gender discriminatory culture (Adeel et al., 2017; Mahadevia & Advani,
disproportionate . low access for women 2016; Neupane & Chesney-Lind, 2014)
household dynamics . normalisation of physical assault
. low social acceptance of women
travelling alone
. regulated movement of women
. restrictions of women to travel together
with other men in Muslim countries
. disproportionate share of household’s
transport burden

Hostile bystanders’ attitude . impatience of co-passengers (Lea et al., 2017; Valan, 2020)
. men discounting sexual harassment and
enjoy seeing women sexually harassed
. minimal bystander intervention
. women unwilling to seek help from
bystanders
. unwilling to give changes to those who
do not have exact fare

Blame for victimisation . women blamed for victimisation based (Lea et al., 2017; Masood, 2018; Neupane
on their clothes, time and place of travel & Chesney-Lind, 2014)
. self-blame by women for victimisation

Dimension: Operational performance

Inconsistency and . unreliable PT (Iqbal et al., 2020; Turner, 2012)
uninformed trips . lack of schedule information
. inconsistency in departure and arrival
times
. longer waiting times than usual disturb
trip chaining

Higher fares . unregulated and excessive proportion of (Anand & Tiwari, 2006; Rahman, 2010)
fares compared to women’s income
. women forced to use costlier informal
modes than formal modes of PT

Availability . Low frequency of services and limited (Agrawal & Sharma, 2015; Kranrattanasuit,
route coverage of formal modes 2017; Malik et al., 2020)
. over-crowded PT
. unmet travel demands

Accessibility . bus does not stop properly to get on or (Iqbal et al., 2020; Rahman, 2010; You,
off the buses 2019)
. poor accessibility to formal PT services
because of poor first and last mile
connectivity
. poor multimodal integration

Operators’ behaviour . operators’ hostile attitude and poor (Malik et al., 2020; Rahman, 2010)
driving skills
. drivers/conductors do not allow women
to enter buses during peak hours

(Continued)
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1151

Table 1. Continued.
Factor Mobility barriers Key references
. operators are often the perpetrators for
harassing women passengers

Dimension: Infrastructural limitations

Design . unsafe and poorly quality of (Kranrattanasuit, 2017; Verma et al., 2020;
infrastructure You, 2019)
. Inaccessible vehicle design such as high
floor buses, high handles, lack of space
to keep luggage/baby prams
. unsuitable design of stations, difficult for
women to navigate, manoeuver level
changes through stairs

Maintenance . poor maintenance of infrastructure (Bachok et al., 2014; Malik et al., 2020;
. unsafe waiting areas due to non- Sham et al., 2013)
operational CCTVs, poor lighting

Dimension: Sexual harassment

Role of operators . insufficient security provisions from (Gekoski et al., 2017; Hoor-Ul-Ain, 2020;
operators Natarajan, 2016)

Insufficient patrolling . unsafe waiting at shelters at nighttime (Natarajan, 2016)

. isolated bus stations and unstaffed
stations

Forms of sexual harassment . physical harassment such as voyeurism, (Dhillon & Bakaya, 2014; Murali, 2020;
groping, unexpected touching, etc. Neupane & Chesney-Lind, 2014; Tripathi
. other forms of harassment such as et al., 2017; Valan, 2020; You, 2019)
stalking, aggressive staring, profane
language, etc.

vulnerable socio-economic groups, and the depth of knowledge available to practitioners

and policy-makers.
Sexual harassment is the most studied topic for women’s travel experiences. Gekoski
et al. (2017) found that sexual harassment occurrence is higher in developing economies,
due to differing cultural and gender norms, and that majority of incidences go unre-
ported. One of the main reasons for underreporting of incidences is victim-blaming.
This originates from complexities involving underlying societal and cultural patriarchy
in law and enforcement, in addition to lack of protection laws in the PT sector (Lea
et al., 2017; Natarajan, 2016; Neupane & Chesney-Lind, 2014). Transport authorities are
left with limited data to inform any decisions in the planning and design of PT systems.
Studies typically attain information on sexual harassment occurrence through surveys
which include questions on frequency, type of harassment and severity of incidences
experienced by female passengers in-vehicle, at platforms and by PT mode (Gopal &
Shin, 2019; Hossain & Susilo, 2011). A limited number of studies examined the sociological
and psychological consequences of victimisations (Hoor-Ul-Ain, 2020; Valan, 2020). Natar-
ajan (2016) is amongst the limited number of studies which examined the effects of built
1152 A. SIL ET AL.

environments on the occurrence of sexual harassment. The study included interviews

with the local police officers (n = 30) to discuss probability and types of sexual harass-
ments reported. The safety audits were based on the overall impression of built-environ-
ment, lighting, sight-lines, nearby land use, design of bus shelters and general upkeep.
In the last decade, women in Asia are speaking up against sexual violence. In India, the
Nirbhaya movement in 2012 (Times of India-Online, 2019) caused a shift in the way
women respond to harassment and assault. Since then, there has been a significant
increase in the number of sexual harassment and assault cases reported. A few studies
explored the role of Information and Communication Technology in improving personal
safety of women while travelling, with the additional benefit of collecting harassment
data. “SafeBand” is an application developed in Bangladesh which sends GPS coordinates
to the nearest police station in the event of an incidence and messages to saved contacts
(Islam et al., 2018). In India, another application, Safetipin, based on crowdsourced data
which allows users to rate the safety of a location and generates safety scores for
various public places (Safetipin, n.d.). Similarly, in Pakistan, the application “Mehfoo-
zAurat” features safe routes, emergency alerts and audio recording in regional languages
(Sarosh et al., 2016). Despite successful testing of these initiatives, reasons for low uptake
by transport authorities are still unclear (Sarosh et al., 2016).
The review found only two studies which examined international policies and initiat-
ives to mitigate the barriers commonly encountered by women in these developing
countries. Adur and Jha (2018) discussed the Safe Cities global initiative by the United
Nation post an incidence of sexual violence in Delhi (Nirbhaya movement). The study
stated the importance of using an intersectional approach for women, over a homo-
geneous group, based on socio-economic characteristics to gain a holistic understanding
of their travel needs. Turner (2012) examined World Bank financed transport projects in
countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Laos and Cambodia. They concluded that there
are provisions of gender inclusion at the planning phases, however, due to inadequate
evaluation methods, the strategies and measures set at the planning phase were
ignored and not incorporated in the policies for local authorities.

5. Policy
This section provides a critical look at international and national policies on gender
inclusion in public transport planning, design and implementation. Some of the key pol-
icies and its objectives are summarised in Table 2.

5.1. International toolkits and indicators for women’s travel needs

International organisations leading on policy and planning for inclusive PT systems are
the World Bank, United Nations, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Institute for Transport
and Development Policy (ITDP), and International Transport Forum (ITF). Although work
began as early as 1998, the guidelines and operational plans were not implemented
until 2013 when the ADB published a gender mainstreaming toolkit in transport. ADB
shifted from “Women In Development (WID)” approach in 1995, in which women are con-
sidered to be a special target group, to a “Gender and Development approach”, in which
gender is a cross-sectional factor at all levels of social and economic process (Asian
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1153

Table 2. Key policies and tool kits by international organisations.

Year Name of policy/tool kit Policy/objectives Citation
ADB
2008 The Long-Term Strategic . ADB will promote gender equity … such as (Asian Development
Framework of the ADB 2008– improved access for women and girls to Bank, 2008, p. 15)
2020 education and health services, clean water,
better sanitation, and basic infrastructure.

2013 Gender Equality and Women’s . Opportunities will be explored … to shorten (Asian Development
Empowerment Operational women’s travel time and lighten loading Bank, 2013a, p. 26)
Plan, 2013–2020 burden while enhancing their mobility,
safety and economic empowerment.

2013 Gender Tool kit: Transport . Identification of social and gender issues in (Asian Development
Maximising the benefits of transport Bank, 2013b)
improved mobility for all . Identification of gendered travel needs and
patterns
. Women participation in policy making and
planning
. Promoting women employment in transport
sector
. Gender responsive infrastructure design
. Collect gender disaggregated data and
monitoring
. Gender capacity building for transport
authorities
. Encourage policy making towards informal
PT

United Nations
2009 The Inland Transport Committee . Identification of gendered travel patterns (UNESCAP, 2008)
and gender issues in transport . Exploring the implications of urbanisation
… on travel patterns of women.
. Gender sensitisation and capacity building
of policy makers and planners at all levels in
transportation departments
. Engender national budgets

2015 Sustainable Development Goals . SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and (United Nations,
(SDG) empower all women and girls 2016)
. SDG 11.2: By 2030, provide access to safe,
affordable, accessible, and sustainable
transport systems for all, improving road
safety, notably by expanding PT with special
attention to the needs of those in vulnerable
situations, women, children, persons with
disabilities and older persons.

World
Bank
Institute of Transportation and Development Policy
2015 Mobility for all: A strategic . Provide mobility for all people, regardless of (ITDP, 2015)
transportation plan for Ranchi their age, gender, financial and physical
abilities
. Identification of gendered travel needs and
patterns
. Safer and accessible infrastructure design

(Continued)
1154 A. SIL ET AL.

Table 2. Continued.
Year Name of policy/tool kit Policy/objectives Citation

2017 Women and Transport in Indian . Identification of gendered mobility patterns (Shah et al., 2017)
Cities . Goal setting, preparation and
implementation of Gendered Mobility Plans
. Monitoring and evaluation of mobility plans
. Promote gender responsive PT routes and
frequencies
. Increase Women’s Safety
. Improve access to information of PT
schedule
. Engender PT Authorities
. Safer Informal transport for women

International Transport Forums

2015 Mobility for all: A strategic . PT scheduling for wider range of needs. (Ng & Acker, 2018)
transportation plan for Ranchi . informal transport with safer regulations
and technologies

2017 Women and Transport in Indian . Gender-wise equal perception of safety and (ITF, 2022)
Cities security when travelling
. Gender-focused safety measures in public
transport
. legal framework in place that protects
women in public space
. public awareness campaigns on personal
security of women in transport
. Number/percentage of urban planning
strategies that take into account gender-
specific needs and interests.
. Equal accessibility of services, by gender
. Number/percentage of stations that provide
facilities for parents and care-takers
. Family-friendliness of public transport
vehicles
. Participation in the transport workforce, by
gender
. Gender-wise education and training for
transport careers

Development Bank, 1998). This created a significant shift in the way women’s travel needs
are considered in policies.
Gender equity policies have become more focused and tangible in the past decade.
Amongst the available list of indicators, the ADB has developed a detailed and structured
framework for each step of project planning and implementation. Toolkits by the ADB, ITF
and World Bank provide indicators for gender inclusion in transport, which commonly
include, travel patterns, affordability, and safety (Asian Development Bank, 2013b; ITF,
2022; World Bank, 2010). The “Gender Toolkit” in 2013 by ADB provides more explicit indi-
cators on affordability, compared to other organisations, including proportion of income
spent on transport by gender, subsidised and flexible tickets by gender, satisfaction of PT
services (Asian Development Bank, 2013b). Another gender toolkit by ADB published in
2013 includes indicators on gender sensitisation of operators. Similarly, the ITF’s
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1155

“Gender Analysis Toolkit for Transport 2022” has an additional indicator for public aware-
ness of women’s personal safety and security. This toolkit by ITF has the least number of
indicators on accessibility to services. Alongside indicators, appropriate tools are required
to assist in the interpretation and evaluation of a project’s alignment with international
policies. ADB provides detailed planning tools in comparison to other international organ-
isations. Capacity building has been discussed to be the most important factor by all
organisations. This includes participatory approaches to planning, changes in infrastruc-
ture design after consultation with women, and participation of women at training work-
shops on social impacts of transport. Intentional employment of women in the transport
sector can improve gender representation and assist in the development of more inclus-
ive PT systems from the early stages of planning and design. The ADB “Gender Toolkit
2013” includes indicators related to the number of market spaces reserved for women
along highways, bus or train stations, and incentives designed to recruit women and
increase their capacity in the transport sector. The World Bank’s “Making Transport
Work for Women and Men Tools for Task Teams” in 2010 provides a different approach
to ADB by identifying women’s employment in the developing countries as “smart econ-
omics” for a country’s economic growth. Although, the World Bank has given suggestions
for “smart economics”, the United Nations Economic and Social Council has a more
detailed toolkit to integrate a “caring economy” as a core component into economic
analysis and policy-making (UNESCAP, 2008). It is recommended that authorities
acknowledge women as major users of formal PT and use the indicators to set national
budgets to benefit women.
Despite progress at an international level, there has been limited progress in inclusive
PT systems for developing Asian cities (Thynell, 2016). One of the main issues is interpret-
ation of the policies. The global indicator framework by the United Nations for SDGs,
states “Proportion of population that has convenient access to public transport, by sex,
age and persons with disabilities” for SDG 11.2 (United Nations, 2016). The term “con-
venient” has led to different interpretations at nation levels. The National Institution for
Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, a government entity responsible for overseeing the
implementation of SGDs, has developed a National Indicator Framework and proposed
the indicator “Proportion of households in urban areas with convenient access to
public transport”. This indicator in India has removed the need for disaggregated data
on different population groups as stated in the SDG 11.2 (Ministry of Statistics and Pro-
gramme Implementation, 2021). Further, issues of misinterpretation can occur in develop-
ment of state indicators based on national frameworks, which do not specify the
requirement for disaggregated data (Tiwari et al., 2021). In Malaysia, SDG 11.2 was misin-
terpreted and categorised incorrectly. The SDG 11.2 goal is related to inclusive growth
and development. However, the Voluntary Local Review 2021 for Shah Alam City in Malay-
sia has categorised it under the thematic group of environmental sustainability and
climate change. The document discussed poor vertical and horizontal integration of gov-
ernment authorities as a major challenge in implementation of SDG goals (Malaysia,
2021). Misinterpretation of the same goal at different organisational levels and countries
result in outcomes that do not achieve goals set by international governing authorities. A
closer look at national toolkits in these countries shows a lack of specific indicators for
evaluating international transport policies and their effectiveness in providing an inclus-
ive PT system for women.
1156 A. SIL ET AL.

5.2. Inclusion of gender in regional transport documents

The web-search (described in Section 2) resulted in a very limited number of transport
government documents that are publicly available in English. Countries such as
Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia have public documents available in their native
language and these could not be reviewed. Documents available in English from Bangla-
desh, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Cambodia were reviewed. A
common finding was that there are no dedicated sections for gender inclusion; with Ban-
gladesh being the exception. Very few national and state policies include, or even
mention, gender and women’s needs in the transport sector. This lack of inclusion of gen-
dered mobility contributes to the “secondary” status of women’s needs in transport policy
(Rivera, 2010a; Tiglao et al., 2020; You, 2019). For example, the Dhaka Urban Transport
Project in 2012 in Bangladesh proposed gender inclusion at the planning stage but it
was not carried through to the design stage. The planning documents discussed inclusion
of women’s travel needs, however, in the design stage, there was no provision to collect
data such as a national travel survey, and household surveys (Dhaka Transport Co-ordina-
tion Authority, 2015).
Gender mobility and transport policies were also found to be separate agendas and
consequently independent of each other in the planning and design stages of transport
projects. For example, the Malaysian transport authorities states, in general terms, “The
laws and policies on gender equality are not explicitly stated. However, women-owned
statistics released by … Malaysia has clearly shown that gender equality is being practiced
in Malaysia”. Aside from this statement, there are no other information publicly available
for how this is achieved (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2021). Similarly, Nepal’s
National Transport Policy does not mention any provisions for women, however, the
National Environmentally Sustainable Transport Strategy 2014 provides guidelines for
gender mobility by stating “Key indicators to ensure inclusiveness of transport system,
and gender equity in transport services are percentage of PT coverage, and percentage
of all-women public transport vehicles; and seats for women” (Ministry of Physical Infra-
structure and Transport, 2014).
Transport policies often refer to vulnerable groups, which include children, women,
disabled and the elderly together as a single group (Ministry of Planning, 2018; Ministry
of Transport and Civil Aviation, 2015; Ministry of Urban Development, 2014; National
Economic and Development Authority, 2017). This aggregation of vulnerable population
groups makes it difficult for operators to fulfil requirements for specific groups with
differing travel needs. Such aggregation dissolves women’s travel needs and they are
often neglected in any decision-making process. For example, the National Urban Trans-
port Policy in India by the Ministry of Urban Development states that “The Constitution …
ensures equality … people with reduced mobility. It includes people with different abil-
ities, senior citizens, women, and children, pregnant women, families with small children,
people carrying heavy luggage⍰⍰⍰ (Ministry of Urban Development, 2014). Sri Lankan’s
transport policy states to “adequately” address the needs of women, children, disabled
and elderly; wherein women are considered as part of vulnerable passengers, and
there is no specific definition or objective for “adequate” (Ministry of Transport and
Civil Aviation, 2015). Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India, have produced policies to
improve affordability of PT for women from lower socio-economic characteristics
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1157

through fare subsidisation (2014–2017). In Bangladesh, the Urban Transport Policy, Dhaka
states that employers are required to provide safe and secure transport for female
garment workers (Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Authority, 2015). Sri Lanka’s National
Transport policy proposes subsidies and other pricing strategies for targeted groups,
including women (Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, 2015). India’s National Urban
Transport Policy states that financial support will be given to local agencies for implemen-
tation of safe and secure transport for women to their workplaces (Ministry of Urban
Development, 2014).
A major limitation in existing transport policies is the lack of explicit initiatives to target
the safety and security of women in transport; despite higher rates of harassments in
these countries. Only a few countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Philip-
pines have some guidelines on women passengers’ safety when riding PT (Dhaka Trans-
port Co-ordination Authority, 2015; Ministry of Planning, 2018; Ministry of Urban
Development, 2014; National Economic and Development Authority, 2017). India has a
policy (Ministry of Urban Development, 2014) to deploy only police-verified drivers and
conductors on buses. However, a major share of bus fleet are privately owned and the
operators do not need to pass police verification; thereby exempting them from this
requirement. Similarly, drivers of informal transport modes in most South and Southeast
Asia countries are not required to verify their vehicles after the initial check (Times of
India, 2013). Those who privately operate such as Uber are outside any law or policy
set by transport authorities for the PT sector. Bangladesh’s government proposes to
review existing provisions to respond to women’s safety and security travel needs
(Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Authority, 2015). However, these enforcement policies
do not reflect the seriousness of the issue. Policies and laws which are explicit in terms
of actions and resulting consequences are lacking from transport authorities and law
enforcement. Without adequate protection laws, women will continue to face harass-
ment, struggle to meet their travel needs and be discouraged from riding formal PT
modes (Hossain & Susilo, 2011; Panjwani, 2018).

6. Knowledge gaps for future research

This review has identified key knowledge gaps on gender inclusion in PT systems. The
knowledge gaps are grouped under three themes, women’s travel needs and safety;
data collection and methods; and international and national policies, as shown in
Figure 2.

6.1. Women’s travel needs and safety

Most studies limit their sample to educated women from higher socio-economic back-
grounds and to commuters. The experiences of women who are illiterate, accompanied
riders, those who refuse to take part in the survey remain uncaptured. Trips of many
women in these countries are predominately non-commute trips, which are less exam-
ined. This poses difficulty in generalising the results from the studies to a broader popu-
lation due to small sample sizes and biased demographic sample groups (Malik et al.,
2020). Most of the studies on gendered experiences with PT portray journeys on the
safest and least critical mode, often by the least vulnerable. There is a need to examine
1158 A. SIL ET AL.

Figure 2. Summary of key findings and identified knowledge gaps.

gendered experiences of informal PT and travel requirements of a diverse range of

women including illiterate women and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
High rates of underreporting of sexual harassment in official records undermine
women’s safety and security when riding PT. Specific laws to protect women against vic-
timisation in PT are absent in most of these countries. This impacts the reporting inci-
dences as patriarchally influenced authorities can ignore or refuse to file cases due to
lack of protection laws. Most women do not feel confident to report cases knowing
that there is an absence of protection laws on which they base the incidence. Software
applications such as SafeBand and SaftiPin were developed to help women travel
safely, including using PT, yet the responsibility to stay safe remains with women; the
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1159

police and perpetrators are not held accountable. The tools are unable to lodge formal
complaints with the police, making the information redundant when reporting a case.
Such tools act on the symptoms of inefficient laws, whereas the root causes such as
lack of protection laws, and gender sensitisation of public and police remain. Addressing
the travel needs of women from different sociodemographic groups, in particular those
with lower literacy and reliant on PT, is required to develop an inclusive PT system. Fur-
thermore, suitable tools to collect data of sexual harassment incidences anonymously
would provide authorities with a better representation of the barriers faced by women.

6.2. Data collection and methods

Most studies predominately adopt subjective methods to evaluate PT systems; the objec-
tive parameters such as levels of service, schedule information, infrastructure design,
design capacity, are often excluded. This limits the evaluation of PT systems to be
assessed objectively to determine improvement in the built environment to make the
systems more inclusive for women. Machine learning techniques can be explored to
analyse data to overcome the shortcomings of traditional data analysis methods. A
detailed evaluation method can assist policy makers in setting targets for gender
equity in PT and assist in determining the extents of existing gender gap in policy-making.
Although some national transport policies have included women’s travel needs,
national travel surveys are commonly not publicly available and difficult to attain from
transport authorities. For example, transport policies in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India
state provisions for women’s travel needs, however, some studies (Panjwani, 2018; Tri-
pathi et al., 2017) have discussed the lack of understanding of women’s travel needs by
transport agencies and policy-makers as a prerequisite to form policies. Another com-
monly reported limitation is lack of quality data available from the authorities. Access
to detailed data is cumbersome, insufficient and infrequently updated (Natarajan,
2016). This leads to development of uninform policies which disproportionately favours
the more privileged population groups (Rahman, 2010).

6.3. International and national policies

A closer examination of the policies showed that there exists some ambiguity in the terms
adopted for gender inclusion, in particular an interchange of “equality” and “equity”. The
ADB (2008) in one of its strategy reports, discussed action plans to resolve gender equity
issues in transport. Then in 2013, ADB published a gender-specific operational plan
aiming towards gender equality and empowerment (Asian Development Bank, 2013a).
A study by the ITF in 2018 explored gendered urban travel behaviour for equitable trans-
port policies, whereas the 2020 toolkit project exclusively discussed gender equality
(International Transport Forum, 2021; Ng & Acker, 2018). Such ambiguity between
gender equality and equity at a global level can lead to misinterpretation by national
and local policy makers; leaving women’s travel needs mostly unaddressed. There must
be clear definitions and distinctions established for gender equality and equity when
forming international guidelines and policies.
Guidelines by international organisations focused on development of PT systems to be
inclusive are contingent on its implementation at national and local levels. It is unknown
1160 A. SIL ET AL.

how a guideline provided at international level is interpreted and percolated through the
various levels of authorities from national to regional to local levels. Despite the existence
of some national policies, its implementation at local levels to realise the objectives has
been of limited success. The process of policy formation and planning at different
levels remains unclear and so are the gaps in its implementation. Further studies on
the filtration of gender in the administrative, operational, infrastructural and enforcement
aspects would provide deeper insights to produce more effective policies. They would
provide a better understanding of the process involved in the implementation of inter-
national guidelines at local levels, and identifying any key gaps in the process. In some
countries, separate gender and transport policies exist, wherein both aspects are con-
sidered separate agendas and thereby as separate responsibilities for authorities. Con-
sideration of gender and transport together is important for addressing women’s travel
needs.
Finally, evaluation of a policy is a crucial step to determine its success. There have been
few attempts to examine policies, as discussed in Section 5. There is limited understand-
ing on how policies can be evaluated in a holistic manner. In countries with limited
funding and resources with high demand-supply mismatch of PT services, policy-
makers typically rely on economic indicators to evaluate transportation systems. More-
over, lack of key indicators and performance targets for gender inclusion in the transport
sector further prevent policies from having effective outcomes. Therefore, clear evalu-
ation frameworks are required to better serve the purpose of a policy (Uteng, 2011).
In summary, addressing the above-mentioned knowledge gaps are steps toward
improving women’s PT ridership in South and Southeast Asian countries. Availability of
quality and disaggregated data on women’s travel needs will assist policy makers and
practitioners to develop inclusive PT systems. Along with data availability, proper tools
and methods for data collection by utilising machine learning techniques, and adopting
objective parameters to assess women’s travel needs can improve the development of
more effective policies. This may result in better implementation of policies to address
women’s mobility barriers. Although, the patriarchal societal norms remain out of
scope for this review, mitigating, and where possible eliminating, mobility barriers may
have a positive impact on women’s overall status in society.

7. Conclusion
Awareness movements by the public on women’s safe mobility, such as the Nirbhaya
campaign against sexual violence in India, have caused transport authorities to rethink
the design and policies for inclusive public transport (PT) systems. Still, there is more
work to be done before women can step outside their homes and travel safely. The
present study provides a critical review of the typical barriers women in South and South-
east Asian countries encounter on their PT journeys, limitations in common methods used
to attain data on women’s travel needs, ambiguity in international guidelines and lack of
adequate national policies for inclusive PT systems. An overarching issue is the frequency
and severity of sexual harassment faced by women on a daily basis when riding any
modes of PT. Although an in-depth discussion of patriarchal societal norms is outside
the scope of this review, its effects came through strongly in the frequency and severity
of harassment women experience. It also comes through in the unclear gender inclusion
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1161

guidelines, lack of and ambiguity in transport policies, and reluctancy in the approach fre-
quently taken by law enforcement towards rarely reported sexual harassment incidents.
Inefficient reporting systems, and lack of protection laws for women add to how easily
violence against women can go unrecorded, even after being reported by a victim.
Without any data, it is difficult for transport authorities to create effective strategies
and initiatives for a safe transport environment. A common limitation is the limited
sample sizes and over-sampling of easily accessible groups of women such as university
students, professionals and educated women with access to internet. There is a significant
lack of understanding on the travel needs of women from lower-socio-economic groups
and intersectionality of different socio-economic groups.
A major limitation in the policy sector is the interpretation of international guidelines
for national policies. Amongst the national transport policy documents, those that are
publicly available and include gender-specific provisions are difficult to find and in
countries where they do exist, some are found in other non-transport documents.
Despite higher rates of sexual harassment, there are no existing provisions in national
transport policies to improve reporting mechanisms by the victims. Safe mobility for
women and access to basic necessities is critical for economic vitality in South and South-
east Asian countries. This can only be achieved if gendered travel needs are understood
in-depth and incorporated consistently throughout the pipeline from international guide-
lines to local policies, and practices by transport professionals.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

ORCID
Subeh Chowdhury http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9619-705X

References
Adeel, M., Yeh, A. G. O., & Zhang, F. (2017). Gender inequality in mobility and mode choice in
Pakistan. Transportation, 44(6), 1519–1534. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-016-9712-8
Adur, S. M., & Jha, S. (2018). (Re) centering street harassment – An appraisal of safe cities global
initiative in Delhi, India. Journal of Gender Studies, 27(1), 114–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/
09589236.2016.1264296
Agrawal, A., & Sharma, A. (2015). Gender contests in the Delhi metro: Implications of reservation of a
coach for women. Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 22(3), 421–436. https://doi.org/10.1177/
0971521515594279
Anand, A., & Tiwari, G. (2006). A gendered perspective of the shelter–transport–livelihood link: The
case of poor women in Delhi. Transport Reviews, 26(1), 63–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/
01441640500175615
Asian Development Bank. (1998). Gender and development. The Journal of Educational Sociology, 66
(0), https://doi.org/10.11151/eds1951.66.67
Asian Development Bank. (2008). Strategy 2020: The long-term strategic framework of the Asian
development bank 2008-2020. In Development.
Asian Development Bank. (2013a). Gender equality and women’s empowerment operational plan,
2013–2020 (Vol. 13, Issue October).
Asian Development Bank. (2013b). Gender tool kit: Transport.
1162 A. SIL ET AL.

Bachok, S., Osman, M. M., Murad, M., & Ibrahim, M. (2014). An assessment of commuters’ perceptions
of safety and comfort levels of ‘women-only coach’: The case study of KTM Komuter Malaysia.
Procedia Environmental Sciences, 20, 197–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2014.03.026
Ceccato, V. (2017). Women’s victimisation and safety in transit environments. Crime Prevention and
Community Safety, 19(3–4), 163–167. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41300-017-0024-5
Clarke, M. (2010). Making transport work for women and men: Tools for task teams. World Bank
Social Development. World Bank Publications - Reports 12555, The World Bank Group.
Department of Statistics Malaysia, Laws and Policy on Gender Equality. Retrieved 25 July 2022, from
https://www.malaysia.gov.my/portal/content/30715
Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Authority. (2015). Urban transport policy (Issue November).
Dhillon, M., & Bakaya, S. (2014). Street harassment: A qualitative study of the experiences of young
women in Delhi. SAGE Open, 4(3), 2158244014543786. https://doi.org/10.1177/215824401
4543786
Gekoski, A., Gray, J. M., Adler, J. R., & Horvath, M. A. H. (2017). The prevalence and nature of sexual
harassment and assault against women and girls on public transport: An international review.
Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, 3(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1108/
JCRPP-08-2016-0016
Gopal, K., & Shin, E. J. (2019). The impacts of rail transit on the lives and travel experiences of women
in the developing world: Evidence from the Delhi metro. Cities, 88, 66–75. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.cities.2019.01.008
Hoor-Ul-Ain, S. (2020). Public sexual harassment mayhem on public transport in megacities-Karachi
and London: A comparative review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 52, 101420. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.avb.2020.101420
Hossain, M., & Susilo, Y. O. (2011). Rickshaw use and social impacts in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Transportation Research Record, 2239(1), 74–83. https://doi.org/10.3141/2239-09
International Transport Forum. (2021). Gender analysis toolkit for transport policies. OECD Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1787/9789282107782-en
Iqbal, S., Woodcock, A., & Osmond, J. (2020). The effects of gender transport poverty in Karachi.
Journal of Transport Geography, 84, 102677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102677
Islam, M. N., Promi, N. T., Shaila, J. M., Toma, M. A., Pushpo, M. A., Alam, F. B., Khaledur, S. N., Anannya,
T. T., & Rabbi, M. F. (2018). SAFeband: A wearable device for the safety of women in Bangladesh. In
Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Advances in Mobile Computing and Multimedia
(pp. 76–83).
ITDP. (2015). Mobility for all: A strategic transportation plan for Ranchi, Retrieved April 12 from
Mobility for all: A strategic transportation plan for Ranchi - Institute for Transportation and
Development Policy (itdp.org).
ITF. (2022). Gender analysis toolkit for transport (pp. 2–8). OECD Publishing. https://www.itf-oecd.org/
itf-gender-analysis-toolkit-transport
Kranrattanasuit, N. (2017). Inaccessible public Bus services in Thailand. Asia-Pacific Journal on Human
Rights and the Law, 18(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718158-01801001
Lea, S. G., D’Silva, E., & Asok, A. (2017). Women’s strategies addressing sexual harassment and assault
on public buses: An analysis of crowdsourced data. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 19(3–
4), 227–239. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41300-017-0028-1
Mahadevia, D., & Advani, D. (2016). Gender differentials in travel pattern–the case of a mid-sized city,
Rajkot, India. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 44, 292–302. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.trd.2016.01.002
Malaysia, U. (2021). Voluntary local review 2021.
Malik, B. Z., ur Rehman, Z., Khan, A. H., & Akram, W. (2020). Women’s mobility via bus rapid transit:
Experiential patterns and challenges in Lahore. Journal of Transport & Health, 17, 100834. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2020.100834
Masood, A. (2018). Negotiating mobility in gendered spaces: Case of Pakistani women doctors.
Gender, Place & Culture, 25(2), 188–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2017.1418736
Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. (2014). National environmentally sustainable trans-
port (EST) strategy for Nepal (Issue April).
 TRANSPORT REVIEWS 1163

Ministry of Planning, D. & R. (2018). National transport policy of Pakistan. www.pc.gov.pk

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. (2021). National indicator framework version
3.0. 44.
Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. (2015). National transport policy of Sri Lanka.
Ministry of Urban Development. (2014). National Urban Transport Policy, 2014. In NUTP (2014)
‘National Urban Transport Policy, 2014’ (pp. 1–39). www.iutindia.org. www.iutindia.org
Murali, V. S. (2020). Transport solutions for violence against women in India. In Voices on south Asia:
Interdisciplinary perspectives on women’s status, challenges And futures, 89.
Natarajan, M. (2016). Rapid assessment of “eve teasing” (sexual harassment) of young women
during the commute to college In India. Crime Science, 5(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/
s40163-016-0049-6
National Economic and Development Authority. (2017). National transport policy and its implement-
ing rules and regulations.
Neupane, G., & Chesney-Lind, M. (2014). Violence against women on public transport in Nepal:
Sexual harassment and the spatial expression of male privilege. International Journal of
Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 38(1), 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/01924036.2013.
794556
Ng, W.-S., & Acker, A. (2018). Understanding Urban travel behaviour by gender for efficient and equi-
table transport policies (No. 2018–01; International Transport Forum Discussion Paper).
Panjwani, N. (2018). Mainstreaming gender in Karāchī’s public transport policy. European Journal of
Sustainable Development, 7(1), 355. https://doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2018.v7n1p355
Rahman, M. S.-U. (2010). Bus service for ‘women only’ in Dhaka city: An investigation. Journal of
Bangladesh Institute of Planners, 3(December 2010), 17–32. www.springwise.com
Regmi, M. B., & Yamamoto, J. (2021). Gender mainstreaming in transport – A long route to transport
equality. ESCAP. https://www.unescap.org/blog/gender-mainstreaming-transport-long-route-
transport-equality#
Rivera, R. L. K. (2010a). Gender and transport: Experiences of marketplace workers in Davao city,
Philippines. Environment and Urbanization ASIA, 1(2), 171–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/
097542531000100205
Rivera, R. L. K. (2010b). Gender and transport. In International transport forum (Vol. 1, Issue 2, pp.
171–186). https://doi.org/10.1177/097542531000100205
Safetipin, Safetipin, Creating Safe Public Spaces for Women. (n.d.). Retrieved 3 March 2022, from
https://safetipin.com/
Sarosh, M. Y., Yousaf, M. A., Javed, M. M., & Shahid, S. (2016). Mehfoozaurat: Transforming smart
phones into women safety devices against harassment. Proceedings of the Eighth
International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development
(pp. 1–4).
Shah, S., Viswanath, K., Vyas, S., & Gadepalli, S.. (2017). Women and transport in Indian cities (pp. 1–
80). ITDP and Safetipin.
Sham, R., Hussein, M. Z. S. M., & Ismail, H. N. (2013). A dilemma of crime and safety issues among
vulnerable travellers in Malaysian urban environment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,
105, 498–505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.11.053
Sham, R., Soltani, S. H. K., Sham, M., & Mohamed, S. (2012). Travel safety fear factor among vulnerable
group of travelers: The urban scenario. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 50, 1033–1042.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.08.103
Sil, A., Chaniotakis, E., Roy, U. K., & Antoniou, C. (2022). Exploring satisfaction for transfers at inter-
modal interchanges: A comparison of Germany and India. Journal of Public Transportation, 24,
100005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubtr.2022.100005
Tara, S. (2011). Private space in public transport: Locating gender in the Delhi metro. Economic and
Political Weekly, 46(51), 71–74.
Tarigan, A. K. M., Susilo, Y. O., & Joewono, T. B. (2014). Segmentation of paratransit users based on
service quality and travel behaviour in Bandung, Indonesia. Transportation Planning and
Technology, 37(2), 200–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/03081060.2013.870792
1164 A. SIL ET AL.

The World Bank. (2022). Literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) – Vietnam,
Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan, Malaysia | Data. https://data.worldbank.org/
indicator/SE.ADT.LITR.FE.ZS?locations=VN-ID-IN-BD-PH-PK-MY
Thynell, M. (2016). The quest for gender-sensitive and inclusive transport policies in growing Asian
cities. Social Inclusion, 4(3), 72–82. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v4i3.479
Tiglao, N. C. C., De Veyra, J. M., Tolentino, N. J. Y., & Tacderas, M. A. Y. (2020). The perception of
service quality among paratransit users in Metro Manila using structural equations modelling
(SEM) approach. Research in Transportation Economics, 83, 100955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
retrec.2020.100955
Times of India. (2013). Autorickshaw drivers told to get police verification done within 15 days.
Gurgaon News - Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/autorickshaw-
drivers-told-to-get-police-verification-done-within-15-days/articleshow/27231120.cms
Times Of India-Online. (2019). What is Nirbhaya case? | What is Nirbhaya case full story? India News -
Times of India. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/what-is-nirbhaya-case/articleshow/
72868430.cms
Tiwari, G., Chauhan, S. S., & Varma, R. (2021). Challenges of localizing sustainable development goals
in small cities: Research to action. IATSS Research, 45(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iatssr.
2021.02.001
Tripathi, K., Borrion, H., & Belur, J. (2017). Sexual harassment of students on public transport: An
exploratory study in Lucknow, India. Crime Prevention and Community Safety, 19(3), 240–250.
https://doi.org/10.1057/s41300-017-0029-0
Turner. (2012). Urban mass transit, gender planning protocols and social sustainability – The case of
Jakarta. Research in Transportation Economics, 34(1), 48–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2011.
12.003
UNESCAP. (2008). The Inland Transport Committee and gender issues in transport. https://www.
unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2009/itc/ECE-TRANS-2009-07e.pdf
United Nations. (2016). THE 17 GOALS. https://sdgs.un.org/goals
Uteng, T. P. (2011). Gender and mobility in the developing world. In World Development Report
Background Paper.
Valan, M. L. (2020). Victimology of sexual harassment on public transportation: Evidence from India.
Journal of Victimology and Victim Justice, 3(1), 24–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/2516606920927303
Verma, M., Rodeja, N., Manoj, M., & Verma, A. (2020). Young women’s perception of safety in public
buses: A study of Two Indian cities (Ahmedabad and Bangalore). Transportation Research
Procedia, 48, 3254–3263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2020.08.151
Women UN. (2017). Safe cities and safe public spaces: Global results report. In UN Women, New York.
World Bank. (2010). Making transport work for women and men tools for task teams. December.
You, S. (2019). Women’s unsafe mobility in public transport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. SAGE
Publications Sage CA.