Abstract: Fastest growing economies like India observe changing role of women population. Last few decades have experienced increase in women workforce and education, consequently, increase in their outdoor activities. Transport services not just impact health but employability as well. Women travel distinctively from their male counterparts. Since disaggregated data is scarce in India, it is critical to examine their travel characteristics, behaviour, and attitudes towards the usage of transportation systems.
This presentation will cover some of the above aspects, in particular:
1. Insights on women’s travel characteristics in relation to socio-economic background
2. Women safety in public buses
3. Gender issues with respect to bicycling
Finding from the studies conducted by author indicates that women group of white collars, entrepreneurs and homemakers lean on using personal vehicles due to convenience, comfort and better time management. On the contrary, women belong to the marginalized section and women with disabilities in Bengaluru were found to be more dependent on BMTC buses due to the low cost of service while Metro is not a viable option because of higher travel cost. This was found prevalent among students too, but gradually, there was a mode shift to using personal vehicles as they grew. Safety emerged as a cause for concern among women. Cycling is not perceived as a mode choice by urban women. Thus, it is a high time when an urban city transport system requires much needed attention of transport policy makers to be more gender inclusive.
About the speaker: Dr Meghna Verma, has Ph.D. in Airport Retail, focusing on retail product purchase behaviour of domestic passengers, from Department of Management Studies, IISc. Bangalore. She has over 21 years of industry, teaching, and research experience and has authored nearly 45 research papers for both journals and conferences. Her research mainly focuses on consumer behaviour in religious tourism, sustainable transport services, SMM, application of AI & AR in retail. She continues her research exploration to contribute towards improving consumers' quality of life, gender equality, social inclusion, and sustainability from a marketing perspective.