Public Transport Forum

Women in Indian cities face a mobility crisis rooted in patriarchal control over their physical movement in public life. Studies estimate that women's mobility rate in urban India is as low as 47%, and nearly half of urban women are not "allowed" to step out alone. Transgender persons and other gender minorities report lack of access to safe public transport.

In this context, public transport can either reinforce these constraints or help dismantle them. The design of buses, the location of stops, the timing of services, the presence or absence of lighting and toilets, the behaviour of staff and co-passengers — all of these shape whether women can move freely, safely, and with dignity. Fare is one major barrier but we work on the full spectrum of gendered accessibility, which includes quality infrastructure and safety by design to transform public transport into genuinely inclusive spaces for women and transgender persons.