Gender Gaps Persist in India's Public Transport, Study Finds

By: WE Staff | Friday, 28 November 2025

• A recent nationwide study has found large gaps in gender inclusivity across the public bus systems of India
• These are the issues associated with low participation of females in the workforce in public transport
• The study also underlines the problems that women face when using public buses

The report, Gender Inclusivity in India's Public Transport, launched in November by ITDP India and GIZ under the Indo-German SUM-ACA project commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), reveals that women comprise only 0.16 percent of bus drivers and 15 percent of conductors in the transport sector.

Poor amenities such as unhygienic toilets and places to rest, harassment at the workplace, and long shifts that pose health risks have been reported by women staff.

Focus group discussions were held with 74 women employees in Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Delhi about how their facilities are not clean, safe rest zones are lacking, and harassment from passengers is common, also at times from colleagues.

This research uses gender disaggregation as a basis to analyze the issues facing female commuters based on the data collected through the Transport4All Challenge across 46 cities by 2 lakh respondents, out of which 78,000 were women.

In this report, we examine the key issues that affect female commuters, including: Harassment; Overcrowded transport; Unreliable services; Safety comfort and other concerns.

The recommendations include: Increasing the proportion of women in the workforce to at least 50 percent; establishing anti-harassment mechanisms; Improving the safety and accessibility of buses (improved lighting, availability and training for gender sensitization).

Based on the findings from this report, it can be concluded that the approach to public transport systems should shift from a Gender Neutral perspective to Gender Responsive approach.

Women, despite being among the highest users of public transport systems, do not represent themselves well at the level of actual operations of public transport systems and continue to experience systemic barriers to their full participation.

Hence, coordinated National Action must be taken to create safer, more inclusive mobility systems for women.