The Challenges to Gender Mainstreaming of a City s Public Transit System: An Explorative Study of Ahmedabad s Janmarg

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1 The Challenges to Gender Mainstreaming of a City s Public Transit System: An Explorative Study of Ahmedabad s Janmarg Tiyali Bose Urban Transport Planning and Management Faculty of Planning CEPT University

2 Content Sex, Gender and Gender Mainstreaming Gender Mainstreaming and Transport Gender Mainstreaming Tools Practices adopted worldwide Objectives, scope and methodology of the study Introduction to case study area Existing situation analysis Recommendation Future scope of the study

3 Sex, Gender and Mainstreaming What is Sex and what is Gender? Are the terms Gender and Sex synonyms? Gender= Socially defined Sex= Biologically defined

4 Sex, Gender and Mainstreaming What is Gender Mainstreaming? A strategy for making women s as well as men s concerns and experiences an integrated dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated -United Nations 1997 Source-GIZ. Gender and Urban Transport: Smart and Affordable Module 7a. Germany: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2007.

5 Why Do We Need to Gender Mainstream the Transport Sector? Different Travel Behaviour of men and women (Falcocchio and Cantilli) Womentripchainwhiletripsmadebymenaremorelinearinnature Womenandmentendtousepublictransitservicesatdifferenttimesoftheday (Peters) Higherpercentageofwomentendtotravelduringoff-peakhoursthanduringpeakhours Women often tend to let go off an opportunity to make a tripin a public transit, if they perceive the trip to be unsafe, expensive (World Bank) and unreliable Women are more concerned about their personal security while men are more concerned about road safety (Trench, Oc and Tiesdell) Women avoid over- crowded and desolated transport modes Femalesprefertotakelongerroutesifaneighbourhoodisdesolatedorpoorlylit Womentendtoletgooffnighttrips,iftheyarerequiredtoundertakeitalone Women are more price sensitive than men (GIZ)

6 Gender Mainstreaming Tools Gender Disaggregated Data Collection- Effective as a management tool to review effectiveness of a policy or a plan, to establish patterns in the allocation of resources, monitor performance. Gender Impact Assessments- Useful for assessment in advance the impact of any proposal on men and women respectively and to address undesirable differences that may be anticipated. Monitoring, Evaluating and Auditing- Acts as an indicator and very useful for evaluation purposes Gender Balance in Decision- making- Necessary to address the democratic principle of gender mainstreaming. Engendering Budgets- Developed in Canada, Sweden and Norway, the tool helps to ensure that resources are directed strategically and equitably. Visioning- Most difficult element of mainstreaming. It seeks to understand and address how the existing practice and institutional arrangements, however subconsciously, disadvantage more women than men. Source-World Bank. Toolkit on Mainstreaming Gender Equality in EC Development Cooperation. Paris: World Bank, 2006.

7 Practices Adopted to bring about Gender Mainstreaming Policy Level Preparation of Gender Mainstreaming Acts, Policies and Plans Operator Level Gender Sensitization among male employees Training and Recruitment of Women as Employees Representation of Women at the decision- making level User Level Safety Measure-Police Patrolling, Installation of CCTVs, Improved Lighting, Restricted boarding, Helplines Accessibility Measure-Improved Pedestrian Infrastructure, Quality Feeder Services Economic Measure- Special Passes and off- peak hour discounts Service Measure-Service Re-scheduling, Reservation of Seats, Women-only Services, Night Services Source- TRANSGEN, Gender Mainstreaming European Transport Research Policies. Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, 2007 GIZ. Gender and Urban Transport: Smart and Affordable Module 7a. Germany: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2007 UN Habitat, Gender Equality for Smarter Cities. Nairobi: UN Human Settlements Programme, 2010

8 Practices Adopted Worldwide- Adopt a Light Project (Nairobi) Adopt a Light Limited, a public- private partnership was incorporated to steer advertising revenues into community development The company s mission is to improve the quality of people s lives by ensuring that public spaces slums, streets, parks, neighbourhoods etc.- remain well lit after sunset The major impact of the project was that it ALL has erected over 3000 street lights along 50 streets covering an estimated 150 km of roads used by helped to improve safety and security in millions of motorists and pedestrians daily. It has erected 33 high mast lights in several slums serving over 150,000 households or an approximate population of 500,000 persons in Nairobi slums by reducing road accidentsand Themajorimpactofthisprojectareasfollows: i. Security in the slums has improved, crime reduced - fewer breaking-ins, muggings, harassment of women and children, and rape. criminal activities ii. Environment for conduct of business particularly for the micro and small enterprises in slums has improved. iii. Has improved road safety reducing accidents particularly those involving pedestrians and cyclists. iv. By financing lighting infrastructure and paying bills for lighting (in excess of US dollars 6.0 million), the project has saved the City Council money allowing the local authority to focus on other areas of need such as education, health and garbage collection. Source: Adopt a Light Limited. Report on Best Practice. Submission for Habitat Business Award for Sustainable Urbanization. Nairobi: Adopt a Light Limited, 2009.

9 Practices Adopted Worldwide- In Between Stops (Montreal) In Montreal, fear of violence had reduced night use of public transportation by women. The Comite d Action Femmes et Securite Urbaine (CAFSU) had thus been actively promoting ways to increase women s sense of security in and access to the urban environment- specifically by instituting in 1996The the Between major Two Stops impact service, which of allows the women project to get offwas the bus that night init between scheduled bus stops at a location closer to their destination helped to increase security duringnight The programme managed to establish strategic partnerships between local authorities, women s organizations, and girls and women utilizing public transportation time, thus resulting in an over-all increase in Success was achieved by recognizing the specific needs of women in the overall allocation of public resources and creating a low cost strategic policy that transformed the economic and social lives of women. public transport ridership This programme generated an increase in ridership as well as more security for all other users. Theservicehasbeenpromotedasthe WomeninCity programmebytheunhabitat Source- GIZ. Gender and Urban Transport: Smart and Affordable

10 Practices Adopted Worldwide- Camino Imaginado(Bogota) The Camino Imaginado or the Imagined Path Programme was an initiative of the Architects of the Department of Public Spaces of the Urban Development(DPSUD), Institute of Bogota The major impact of the project was that it not The programme was born out of a simple idea among some students to go to school without mud in the shoes only helped to improve pedestrian safety, The Defense of Public Space (DPS) office was created to recover space that had been illegally occupied, and space for pedestrians was substantially renovated through improvements in sidewalks, traffic signals, lighting, and the planting of trees. andincreased the usage of public This included the recovery of 338,297 square meters, and the construction of 147,000 square meters, of space under bridges (these spaces previously had been badly planned and inhospitable) and 432,000 square meters of sidewalks a total of approximately 917,000 square meters of public space transportation but also resulted in an overall improvement of the environment The paved greenways called alamedas run adjacent to unpaved roads and lead to the Trans Milenio stations, thus showing that pedestrians were more important than automobiles Source-Montezuma, Ricardo. The Transformation of Bogota, Colombia, : Investing in Citizenship and Urban Mobility. Global Urban development Magazine1.1 (2005). 19 March < GIZ. Gender and Urban Transport: Smart and Affordable

11 Objectives of the Research To articulate the importance of gender mainstreaming of a transport system To evaluate the factors that hinders gender mainstreaming of a city s public transportation system Scope and Limitations of the Research The study is an effort to understand the gender mainstreaming factors and process and does not try to prove that Ahmedabad Janmarg is gender biased The study tries to bring about substantive gender equality rather than formal equality ThestudyfocusesonlyontheexistingBRTserviceanditscaptiveriders.

12 Research Methodology Literature Review Pilot Survey Importance of Gender Mainstreaming Helped to identify factors like travel behaviour, public transport usage, safety and security, and affordability Tools used for achieving gender mainstreaming that hinder the process of gender mainstreaming Factors that hinder the process of gender mainstreaming Conducted at Nehrunagar BRTS Bus Stop Gender Disaggregated Footfall Count (Weekday and Weekend included for the entire BRT operating hours) Commuter Survey (Sample Size-3% of average daily ticket sale; Sampling Method-Equally Distributed Stratified Random Sampling) Study Area Selection Data Collection Data Analysis Ward- Ambavadi Collected gender disaggregated 3 of the Top 6 BRT data Bus on stops the identified with highest factors Boarding and are any located other in this issues ward; observed during the survey BRTS Bus Stations-ManekBaug, The ward has Nehrunagar, predominance Jhansi of kirani, institutional Shivranjani, and residential AndhajanMandal, land use; HimmatlalPark, University, Memnagar process that might probably hinder gender mainstreaming of AJL Located in close proximity to commercial area and lower income residential zone Bus Stops setup in the first phase of BRTS Gender Disaggregated Footfall Count at the selected BRTS Stops to analyse the gender share Commuter Survey at the selected BRTS Bus Stops (Sample Size-3% of average daily ticket sale; Sampling Method-Equally Distributed Stratified Random Sampling) Which Evaluated factor that is given observations major priority madeby world- women wide and related men when to travel they behaviour, decide to use public a public transport transit usage, system? safety and Does security Evaluation the and perception of affordability the Safety, of Accessibility, feeling remained safe Reliability same and secured forand theeconomic case play study a major factors area role which in the act usage as a hindrance of a public to gender transit mainstreaming system? What Identification of a public makes transit one ofsystem issues feel safe that and hinder secured? gender mainstreaming of AJL on the basis of the following categories: safety Does and security, quality pedestrian physical accessibility, infrastructure economic help to accessibility, gender mainstream information a public accessibility transit system? and staff PR skills How Provide important recommendations is the role of for fare theand identified travel information categories and in gender the institution mainstreaming involveda in public addressing transit system? the issue

13 Ahmedabad Network AMC Population: Length: kmillion Ring Area:-466 and Radial sq. type km of network 4 rings and 16 radial Trip Rate: Ahmedabad Motorized rate: city 0.86 region accounts for: Trip 20 Length:- % of the 8.7km States urban population; Total 20% Number of the State s of trips:- GDP; 7.98 million Source : Integrated Transit Lab, Third Semester, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, 2013 Public 14% Transit of the total mode investments share:-12% in all stock exchanges in India; 4 Types of Public Transit Mode Operate within 60% the of the City: total productivity of the state i. Indian Railways ii. and GSRTC iii. BRTS iv. 22% AMTS of factories in the state employing 18% of workers

14 Ahmedabad Janmarg 217 kms of Planned Corridor, but presently 86 kms is under operation Ambawadi 127 operational Bus Stations Fleet Size-147 (AC + Non-AC) 9 operational BRT Routes RTO-Naroda RTO-Maninagar Bopal-Maninagar Chandkheda-L.D. Engineering College RTO-L.D. Engineering College- Kalupur Naroda-Townhall Anjali-Naroda Narol-Naroda Science City- Odhav Source : Integrated Transit Lab, Third Semester, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University, 2013 Source : AJL, 2014

15 Ambawadi Ward Profile Prior to 2011 Gandhigram Since 2011 Ward No.-26 Area-6.33 sq. km Population- 93, 300 Population Density persons/ sq. km LocatedonthewesternsideofSabarmatiRiver Bodakdev Jodhpur Vejalpur Ambawadi Vasna S. P. Stadium Navrangpu ra Paldi Vasna Ambawadi The ward has been newly formed in the year 2011, after disaggregation of 2 wards, namely, Gandhigram and Vasna Source- APL, Ambawadi Group 2, 2013, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University

16 Ambawadi Ward Profile- Land Use The ward has predominance of institutional and residential land use Inspite of only 4% of land use being under commercial use, the ward is located in close proximity to major commercial areas of the city like Shivranjani, Primal Garden Shivranjani Parimal Garden Source-APL, AmbawadiGroup 2, 2013, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University

17 Ambawadi Ward Profile- Road & Public Transport Network 132 Ring Road Andhajan Mandal LD Engineering College Himmatlal Park Shivranjani Jhansi ki Rani University Memnagar Nehrunagar L Colony Manek Baug 120 Ring Road Gulbai Tekra Panjrapol Char Rasta Two of the major ring roads of Ahmedabad, the 120 Ring Road and the 132 Ring Road passes through this ward Numerous sub- arterials, radially connect these two major arterials BRT Corridor BRT Station AMTS RTO- Maninagar Stop RTO- Naroda Bopal- Maninagar Chandkheda- LD Engineering College RTO- LD Engineering College- Kalupur The ward has been part of the first phase of BRT corridor development 5BRTroutespassthroughtheward The AMTS also caters to the public transport needoftheward Source- APL, Ambawadi Group 2, 2013, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University AJL, 2014

18 Data Collection Procedure Memnagar Gender disaggregated footfall count had been undertaken at 8 BRT stations setup in the first phase of BRT development Andhajan Mandal Himmatlal Park Shivranjani Jhansi ki Rani University Panjrapol Char Rasta L Colony Nehrunagar Manek Baug LD Engineering College Gulbai Tekra BRT Corridor BRT Station The footfall count had been undertaken for a weekday and a weekend at each station for the entire BRT operating hours Commuter surveys were undertaken at 4 BRT stations on weekdays: Nehrunagar- Commercial and Institutional zone JhansikiRani-AmajorGSRTCstop Manek Baug and Himmatlal Park- Residential zone Equally distributed stratified random sampling have had been undertaken at each of these 4 stations The sample size collected was 3% of the average daily ticket sale at each of these stations A total of 200 samples have been collected Source-APL, Ambawadi Group 2, 2013, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University AJL, 2014

19 Data Collection Procedure Andhajan Mandal Himmatlal Park University Memnagar Panjrapol Char Rasta LD Engineering College Gulbai Tekra Gender disaggregated footfall count had been undertaken at 8 BRT stations setup in the first phase of BRT development Gender Male Female Age Groups (in yrs) Shivranjani BRT Stations Himmatlal Park Jhansi ki Rani Manek Baug < >60 < >60 The footfall count had been undertaken for a weekday and a weekend at each station for the entire BRT operating hours BRT Corridor BRT Station Commuter surveys were undertaken at 4 BRT stations: Nehrunagar- Commercial and Institutional JhansikiRani-AmajorGSRTCstop Manek Baug and Himmatlal Park- Residential Jhansi ki Rani L Colony Nehrunagar Total Equally distributed stratified random sampling have had been undertaken at each of these 4 stations Nehrunagar The sample size collected was 3% of the average daily ticket sale at each of these stations Manek Baug Source- Total APL, 20Ambawadi Group 202, 2013, Faculty 20of Planning, 20 CEPT University AJL, 2014

20 Data Analysis Procedure Gender share of Ahmedabad Janmarg Differences in basic trip characteristics that occur in between the two gender Validation of issues identified in the literature review Travel behaviour & BRT usage Safety concerns Affordability Type of safety concern Time of the day Strategies adopted Over- all issues identified by the female commuters of Ahmedabad Janmarg Classification of the issues into various categories: safety, accessibility & staff behaviour Identification of the kind of problem that occur at the various stages of a trip & the institutions involved Recommendations to be undertaken by the various institutions in order to bring about gender mainstreaming

21 Gender Share 38 % 62 % University Memnagar Andhajan Mandal 35 % 65 % 31 % 69 % Gender share is the number of females per 100 commuters using a public transport mode The Gender share for BRT stations in Ambawadi as a whole is Himmatlal Park Shivranjani 29 % 71 % 35 % 65 % Jhansi ki Rani 33 % 67 % Nehrunagar Manek Baug 37 % 63 % 37 % 63 % BRT Corridor BRT Station It varies from at Andhajan Mandal to at Shivranjani. The stations Manek Baug, Nehrunagar and Andhajan Mandal havegendershareofabove35, whilejhansikirani, Himmatlal Park, University and Memnagar have gender share varying between Source- Primary Survey, 2014

22 Characteristics of the Commuters- Trip Purpose Males Females Majority of the male commuters of BRT use the service for attending to their compulsory trips Higher percentage of female commuters of BRT are involved in non- compulsory trips Source- Primary Survey, 2014

23 Characteristics of the Commuters- Frequency of Usage of BRT Males Females The percentage of daily commuters of BRT is higher for the male commuters in comparison to the female commuters, which may be attributed to their compulsory trip purposes Source- Primary Survey, 2014

24 Characteristics of the Commuters- Access and Egress Mode Males Females Majority of the women prefer to walk the first/ last leg of their trip in comparison to their male counterparts Female also depend on cheaper modes like shuttle autorickshaws for the first/ last leg of their trip Unlike male commuters, 11% of the female commuters are dropped at/ picked up from the BRT stations Source- Primary Survey, 2014

25 Characteristics of the Commuters- Access and Egress Time Males Females Nearly 90% female commuters who use BRT are able to access the BRT stations within a time span of 10 minutes from their origin/ destination using various modes Source- Primary Survey, 2014

26 Travel Behaviour & Use of BRT Higher percentage of women travel during the off- peak hours In comparison to men, higher percentage of women have been victims of pickpocketing and sexual harassment in overcrowded buses Source- Primary Survey, 2014

27 Safety Concerns- Personal Safety Time Travel Strategy of in the Adopted Groups Safety Roads Day to feel safe Safety on roads in terms of crossing the road to access a bus station is a major concern to the women Women are highly concerned about their personal safety 90% of women feel that the city is unsafe after sunset Of the 90% of women who feel that the city is unsafe at night, prefer to travel in groups or have someone in company while they are travelling Women also prefer to take longer routes if an area is desolated, dark or poorly lit Source- Primary Survey, 2014

28 Affordability The over-all travelling cost is high for the lower income group of people, especially the daily wage earners like the construction workers, ayah s, housekeepers due to lack of safe, reliable and cheap feeder service The over-all travelling cost for BRT users is also a concern for the college and university students and the elderlies, who are the dependent population The travelling cost in BRT is high when one travels in group Majority of the women who have to use autorickshaws or AMTS for the last leg of their trip, prefer to let go off their trip if the trip concerned would be made after 10:30 pm due to empty AMTS buses and high auto charges Source- Primary Survey, 2014

29 Factors that Deter a Woman Commuter from Using Ahmedabad Janmarg Pickpocketing inside buses Sexual Harassment in public spaces Lack of well integrated feeder service Incorrect travel information No BRT route maps Inability to swiftly cross the road High waiting time Lack of footpath to walk Buses do not stop at designated stations, especially after 10:30 pm Non- functioning display boards Poorly lit streets and street edges Rude behaviour of BRT staff Low frequency of buses on particular routes, especially during off- peak hours Desolated neighbourhoods Rash driving of BRT buses Over- crowding Poor traffic management at pedestrian crossings High over- all travelling cost Lack of bus schedule High BRT fare Poor signages Source- Primary Survey, 2014

30 Where do All the Issues Lie??? Origin Walk Foot path BRT Station 1 BRT Station 2 Foot Walk Destinpath -ation Pre- BRT Trip Road Crossing BRT Trip Road Crossing Post- BRT Trip Planning & Infrastructure Issues Enforcement Issues Planning, Operation, Infrastructure & Enforcement Issues Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited Ahmedabad Traffic Police Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited

31 Safety and Security Recommendations Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority Provision of mixed uses along the BRT corridors Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Provision of bright street lights along all roads and their regular maintenance Ahmedabad Traffic Police Installation of traffic signals near BRT stations for providing higher priority to pedestrians Recruitment of traffic personnel near BRT stations for providing higher priority to pedestrians Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited Recruitment of traffic personnel near BRT stations for providing higher priority to pedestrians Restrict passenger boarding a bus beyond a certain limit in order to avoid overcrowding by recruiting security personnel within buses or at every station Installcameras ineverybrtbusandbrtstation Re-schedulebuses tocatertothepeakhourneeds Setupbusstationsnearmixedusezones Runwomen-onlybuses A common measure, but this measure is against the principle of gender mainstreaming

32 Physical Accessibility Recommendations Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Provision of bright street lights along all roads and their regular maintenance Provisionofwell-pavedwide,welllitfootpaths alongallmajorandminorroads Ahmedabad Traffic Police Installation of traffic signals near BRT stations for providing higher priority to pedestrians Recruitment of traffic personnel near BRT stations for providing higher priority to pedestrians Impose strict restrictions on any form of encroachment of footpath Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited Scheduling of BRT buses in co- ordination with AMTS and GSRTC buses, i.e. transportation mode integration Would help in pre- planning of trips, but only possible if information regarding bus schedule of all the stated modes at all the stations is made available in the public domain

33 Economic Accessibility Recommendations Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited Expanding the benefits of student passes to that to college and university students too Provisionofwomenpasses andoff-peakhourtraveldiscounts onbrt Information Accessibility Recommendations Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited Provision of bus schedules and maps to the general public to facilitate trip planning Display information on the PIS regarding theexact arrival timings of a bus on a particular route at the stations Display of important information like- the time for the first and last sale of ticket at every station, the BRT route map, the platform number and the routes that it caters to (for stations serving multiple routes), customer service number at every BRT station

34 Other Recommendations Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited Regular gender sensitization training of staff Conducting periodic gender sensitizing drills for commuters The safety and security measures and the gender sensitizing recommendationsare the first and most important steps towards gender mainstreamingof Ahmedabad s Janmarg

35 Future Scope of the Study A study needs to be undertaken that would involve the studying of the operators, the planners, and the understanding of the policies and laws of the country The study must involve all the modes of a city Disaggregated data collection must be undertaken on the basis of age and economic status too and if cultural differences are prominent in a city, then that too must be taken into account

36 Thank You