Most transport planners and operators are men. Most transport systems are devised with the "average" male commuter in mind. It is only in recent years that there has been any noticeable discussion about the specific transport needs of women. Of course what is good transport for women is good for everyone; an examination of what women see as the shortcomings of a system will unearth a wide range of inadequacies which affect everyone else: old people, children, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, people on low incomes. Many people, men and women, are prevented from using public transport at all. Improvements which accommodate women will be to the advantage even of the "average" male commuter.
Various factors differentiate women's travel needs and patterns from those of the average male white commuter to whom most mainstream public transport is geared. Women are often caring for dependants, children or elderly relatives; their destinations may be different; they often require to travel shorter distances outside peak times; they often work part-time, early morning or late night shifts. The majority of elderly people and people with disabilities are women. Women are very vulnerable to assault, particularly Black and ethnic minority women who are subject to racist as well as sexual attack and who may have little choice of how to travel because of financial status and anti-social working hours.
Between November 1984 and January 1985 a survey of Women's Transport Needs was carried out by the G.L.C. for which about 905 women, representing a cross section of women aged 16 or over in London, were interviewed at home about their use of public transport. Prom this study the following emerged:
| Method of Transport | 5+ days a week | 1-4 days a week | About once or twice a month | Less often | Never |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bus | 197% | 33% | 18% | 16% | 14#37; |
| Underground | 8% | 12% | 16% | 32% | 32% |
| British Rail | 5% | 3% | 11% | 39% | 42% |
| Car Driver | 19% | 7% | 2% | 2% | 70% |
| Car Passenger | 13% | 44% | 17% | 14% | 12% |
| Motorcycle/Moped | - | - | 1% | 1% | 98% |
| Pedal cycle | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 92% |
| Walking all the way | 56% | 31% | 6% | 3% | 4% |
| Taxi/Minicab | 1% | 8% | 15% | 31% | 45% |
It was also found that 37% of women felt safe or fairly safe on buses, while only 16% felt safe or fairly safe on either the Underground or British Rail. Only 20% of women said they felt safe when out at night and almost a quarter never travelled on public transport at night. A Harris survey carried out nationally in October 1988 involving 2753 interviews with women found that 23% never travel after dark, showing that the problem is similar throughout the country including in rural areas.
Most women feel unsafe using British Rail. A transport police survey carried out during 1988 of passengers passing through Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street Stations found that 36% of respondents had witnessed serious fights or assaults during the past year. (Of the 922 respondents, 81% were women). Only 6% of the assaults had been reported because of lack of available staff. (This casts doubt on all Transport Police figures.) 50% of those who travelled outside rush hours at least once a week had witnessed disturbing events. Most concern was expressed over drunkenness, disorder, assault and indecency. Women were the most concerned.
CILT carried out a survey for Southwark Council into Women's Transport needs in the borough and found that very few women used British Rail, although there are hardly any Underground services and the buses are inadequate. Reasons given included unsafe, unpleasant, unstaffed stations, unfamiliarity with routes and timetables, long waits, high fares, difficulty in managing staircases with small children and pushchairs or because of disabilities. Significantly, most women seemed to know very little about B.R. services, assuming that they were expensive and did not go anywhere useful. (For example, many women did not how that they could use B.R. for hospital visits.)
Women are concerned about hazards on the train itself. In South London, rolling stock is still used where the compartments are completely separate from one another and this is perceived as outrageously dangerous; a woman was killed in one of these in 1988. The Harris Women and Transport survey picked out these compartments as being what 4 out of 5 women fear most when using public transport. Southern Region is still using over 100 carriages without corridors. Some women would like to see women-only carriages next to or adjoining the guard's van, while others think these could be a focal point for assailants. Many women like to choose a seat near the guard's van anyway; women see guards as very important where safety is concerned.
Before women will see British Rail as a viable alternative to other forms of transport, they require:
The Department of Transport published a report on Crime in the Underground in 1986. Although it does not differentiate between attacks on men and on women, it showed an alarming increase in crimes to the person, including sexual offences between 1975 and 1985:
| Incident | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violence against the person | 449 | 628 | 837 |
| Sexual offences | 78 | 197 | 251 |
| Robbery | 144 | 307 | 694 |
| Theft from the person | 5040 | 7459 | 7017 |
British Transport Police figures record a 30% increase in offences between 1980 and 1987.
Fears concerning use of the Underground include anxiety about accidents and fire, the latter presumably intensified by the Kings Cross disaster. Women interviewed in Southwark spoke again of the difficulty of negotiating stairs and escalators with small children and pushchairs, the distances to be walked to get to the trains, concern about lifts and escalators being out of commission, high fares, and the generally hostile environment. There are not enough staff around to ensure that help will be available when needed; unsupervised platforms, tunnels and corridors put women at risk of assault. Overcrowding exposes women to being molested and children, disabled and elderly people can be crushed. Use of the Underground often means a considerable walk from home or an additional bus journey. Since the survey was carried out, automatic ticket gates have made travel even more alarming for someone travelling with children: small children have to be lifted over and the gate can cut off a child from its escort. However, as the Underground provides the fastest and generally the most reliable means of crossing London, women would like to be able to take advantage of it.There is little motivation for L.U.L. to seek ways to encourage women to use the Underground more, as they are struggling to cope with the volume of traffic, largely commuter, that is using it at present. Those for whom use of the Underground is almost out of the question are people with small children, people with disabilities and anyone who cannot negotiate the stairs, escalators and long corridors; the frequency with which escalators are out of service can make a journey perilous as passengers are unsure whether they will be able to get out of the station at the end of it. More general provision of lifts would make the Underground accessible to more people.
First and foremost, stations and trains must have easy access and should be places where crimes are not likely to take place. This can be a matter of station design, where passengers need a clear view of where they are going, with no sharp bends and dark corners, no deep undergrowth, minimal long corridors, and bright lighting everywhere. There must be no advertising that could be conducive to violence; standards on this are still unsatisfactory. Sexist and racist graffiti should be prevented or, at any rate, removed as soon as possible. Most importantly, there should be adequate visible uniformed staff so that potential criminals know that their crimes will be observed and passengers feel they are not on their own.
If crimes do, or are about to, take place, there must be the means of getting help. No number of transport police, or even Guardian Angels, can guarantee a presence wherever and whenever needed. Station staff cannot be expected to weigh in and expose themselves to violence; they are often the victims of the violence anyway. Station staff should have a clear view of the platform and a radio with which to call for help; station staff should never be alone; all trains should have guards similarly equipped. Where closed-circuit television is used, it should never replace staff; it should be linked to the ticket office so that action can be taken. If Transport Police, or Metropolitan Police, are sent for they must be able to arrive instantly: the attacker will not wait.
"Help points" have been set up at some stations, incorporating safe waiting areas, emergency telephones and video cameras. Mirrors can also help passengers see if there is anyone round the corner - of course an attacker can use them too. These are ways of reducing risks where nothing further can be done to improve the basic design of the station; sensibly sited, "Help Points" can assist staff to keep the station safe.
Bus is the form of public transport most used by women, although many find that buses still do not meet their needs. The Southwark survey found that women with small children are daunted by the problems of restraining children during long waits at bus-stops and of getting them on to the bus. One-person operation increases the difficulty: women must find the fare standing up while struggling with a push-chair and small children; they are anxious in case the bus moves away before the children are seated, or the automatic doors close before they are all off the bus. Elderly women experience similar problems getting on and off buses. The Harris Women and Transport survey found 42% of women said that buses should be better designed with more room for buggies and luggage and 30% said that buses should be easier to get on and off; 41% said they wanted conductors brought back. Women also find that bus routes often do not serve their needs, being designed for the standard commuter, rather than domestic life. Reductions in frequency during off-peak hours cause long waits at bus-stops which can be dangerous for small children, exhausting, and very disruptive to those trying to combine care of dependants with a job, whether part-time or full-time.
Very few women interviewed in Southwark were willing to use night buses as they saw them as dangerous, and were anxious about using buses even earlier in the evening. Many said they would never sit upstairs on a one-person operated bus at any time of day.
The walk to and from the bus-stop and the wait for the bus were generally seen as the most dangerous part of a journey. The siting and lighting of bus-stops was seen as a major issue in Southwark. Bus-stops need to be fully visible from adjacent shops or houses, away from wasteland and derelict buildings. Proper seating and shelter is essential for many different groups of women. Bus-stops on estates would obviate dangers encountered walking home, particularly at night.
Mini- and midi-buses can operate in streets where a full-size bus cannot go, and can also increase the frequency of service between residential and shopping areas. However, passengers are often left at bus-stops as there is not enough room. Moreover, the design of these buses often makes them very difficult to mount, leaves little space for shopping or pushchairs, and narrow seats with too many standing passengers are both dangerous and uncomfortable.
Ealing Council has contracted London Buses to run a wheelchair-accessible hail-and-ride minibus service with a 15 minute frequency serving isolated parts of the borough. This is a good example of a local authority finding a way to provide a service needed by the community.
London Buses is establishing various "Mobility" bus services, operating wheelchair-accessible buses that will carry people with or without disabilities on routes that take in residential areas, shopping centres and hospitals. In theory, this is a commendable enterprise, ruined by niggardly scheduling, where a service operates in a particular area only once a day or even once a week. The routes are too long and the lifts are clumsy. It would be a very useful resource for women if "Mobility" buses were to run several times a day along a route, as they are designed to accommodate the access requirements of most women, able-bodied or with disabilities, and to operate on routes that are otherwise inadequately serviced.
Some supermarkets and shopping centres provide their own bus services, sometimes free of charge. These are popular as long as the design of the buses provides room for shopping, push-chairs and children.
Community Transport runs Neighbourhood Buses in some boroughs (Tower Hamlets, Camden, Ealing). These are flexible services from isolated estates to shopping centres and other amenities; they have to be pre-booked for legal reasons, but attempt to fill a gap left by regular scheduled services.
Women feel safest if they can be transported door-to-door, especially at night, because of the risks they face on the streets as well as on public transport. The G.L.C. survey found that only 37% of women in London have driving licences and of those only 70% have access to a car at all times. Many women will only go out, at any rate at night, if they can be driven door-to-door.
Women as a group have lower incomes than men and are less able to afford expensive taxi services. However, several women interviewed in Southwark said they used a cab to bring shopping home from the supermarket as they could not manage it on the bus. Others said they always used a cab if they went out at night, although this meant they could not go out very much.
On the whole, women regard cabs as a reasonably safe form of travel, although there is anxiety about minicabs which are unlicensed and unregulated. Regulation concerning the condition of vehicles and standard of driving. as well as strict registration of drivers, is needed similar to the controls on black taxis. The Borough of Hackney is introducing its own "Safe Minicabs Scheme" registration scheme. Many women like to have a woman driver and there is support for firms where it is possible to specify this. A woman driver is particularly helpful when transport is needed for a teenage daughter.
"Taxicard" provides a subsidised taxi service for people with disabilities in London. Women with disabilities find it an excellent resource, although it is more expensive than the equivalent public transport and its use has been severely restricted in several boroughs.
Community Transport involves central co-ordination within a borough of transport for community groups. Transport provided is generally a minibus, and it may be allotted to a specific group or shared between several. These vehicles are invaluable in enabling mothers with small children, or elderly people, to go on outings, and can also be used to enable women to attend evening classes, or other cultural and social events that would otherwise be difficult to reach.
Dial-a-Ride, door-to-door transport for people with disabilities funded at present by L.R.T. jointly with the Boroughs, is drastically under-resourced, generally offering only one lift a fortnight and requiring several days' notice. This service cannot be used to go to work or classes; however, we found in Southwark that women with disabilities often felt freer to go out in the evening than other women, because it is an affordable door-to-door service.
In certain boroughs, Safe Women's Transport schemes provide door-to-door, low cost evening transport for women with a woman driver and escort. The two London schemes in operation at present are Hammersmith Safe Women's Transport and the Stockwell Women's Lift Service, both funded by their local authorities. (A scheme in Lewisham closed down when its funding was cut.) Other Boroughs are considering setting up schemes. Where they are in operation they are very popular and come close to providing women with what they want.
Walking is the mode of transport most used by women for reasons of finance and convenience. However, the pedestrian faces hazards where litter, badly placed street furniture, broken paving stones and awkward kerbs impede the passage of a pushchair or wheelchair, and can cause a serious fall for an elderly person or someone with a disability, especially a blind person. Crossings generally favour road traffic: pelicans leave too little crossing time for a woman with a small child or heavy shopping, or an elderly person or someone with a disability, and footbridges and underpasses involve steps, confusing directions and exposure to assault. During the Southwark survey we found that women living at the Elephant and Castle perceived destinations and bus stops on the other side of the roundabout as being a long way away because of the difficulty of reaching them through the underpasses. Street lamps are directed to light up the road rather than the pavement. Women fear for their safety in the streets as much, if not more, than on public transport.
Public transport provision has a major effect on women's lives. It can make the difference between going out at all or staying in all the time, especially for elderly women, women with disabilities or ethnic minority women who are particularly vulnerable to attack.
Women's ability to live a full, independent life is severely jeopardised if they are afraid to go out at night except in a car belonging to someone else, usually male, with a male escort, or in a group. In Southwark we found that young women, including students, were enjoying very little social life because of transport restraints.
The quality of a transport service can also dictate whether or not a woman with children can have a job, as the time pressures involved in delivering and collecting a child from childcare or school as well as arriving at work on time does not allow leeway for long waits at bus-stops. Many women work part-time, so the time spent on travel can make their job uneconomic and unviable. Many also work night-time shifts where their safety is gravely threatened on their journey to work.
Good, safe night-time, as well as day-time, transport is essential if women are to take their part in educational, social, cultural and political life. This can be achieved largely by more sensitivity in the design of vehicles, streets, stations and bus stops, and in the scheduling and advertising of services. However safety, both personal and operational, can only be achieved if there is sufficient investment in staffing as well as technology and it is essential that profit motives should not be allowed to jeopardise safety standards in any of our transport services. Encouragement to use public transport will provide a healthier environment, a worthwhile investment if women are to fulfil their potential in society and children are to grow up safe, well and active.