The Delhi government has proposed to make travel by buses and metro rail free for all women in about 3 months. Few experts have criticised the Delhi government’s proposal to make buses and the Metro free for women. Under the proposal announced by the Delhi government, women will have the option to not pay for rides. The move, which is at the stage of feedback and planning, has drawn reactions ranging from enthusiastic approval to vehement rejection.

Body:

Rationale behind this move:

• To tackle congestion on the roads, the free rides measure is meant to encourage more women to use public transport.
• To make it easier for women to move from informal and more unsafe modes of transport such as shared autos and cabs to more formal and safer modes such as the Metro.
• To help more women enter the workforce.

Barriers of public transport faced by women:

• Census data from 2011 revealed that 45% of women do not even travel for work, meaning that they work out of their own houses.
• India has one of the world’s most lopsided ratios of male versus female commuting, according to data aggregated by the Centre for Diet and Activity Research, a research unit at the University of Cambridge.
• For both men and women across India, walking is the most common commute to work. For women, after walking, the bus is the most common mode of transport.
• A 2005 study in Delhi slums found that women spend more time travelling on slower modes of transport to access work since faster modes are more expensive.
• Similarly, women respondents in a 2011 World Bank study in Mumbai reported finding the bus pass prohibitively expensive and “pointed out that cheap bus travel would enable them to better access the local trains which in turn could connect them to better-paying jobs in South and Central Mumbai.”

Reforms in Public transport affect women:

Any change in public transport directly affects women as they are proportionately higher user of public transportation. The initiative of the Delhi government to make public transport free for women can affect women in the following ways:

• Less Gender Commuting Gap: Subsidized public transport can help cash-constrained women get access to better-paying employment opportunities even if it takes longer commuting.
• More Economic growth: As the women participation in the country increases with improved transportation, a vast untapped human resource in the economy can lead to better growth.
• Better quality of life: Poor transport system affects the quality of life of women more. They can pursue their desired work if transportation improves.
• Safety: In the case of unaffordable public transport, women tend to prefer taking cheaper and unsafe transport, e.g. overloaded auto. Sometimes they miss the ticket for trains due to long queue in late nights, which creates a big safety issues for them. A cheaper and affordable or free transport would enable them to commute safely.

Way forward:

• Discounted fares for certain classes of commuters, including students and seniors could be introduced.
• This, along with, daily and weekly cap on fares might encourage greater use of buses and metros.
• That requires widespread adoption of smart payment cards that are valid across various modes of public transport.
• Cities such as London and Sydney are among the many that have such a system in place.
• g. the Oyster card is valid for travel through all 6 zones of London and has a daily cap of £12.80
• So, the government could do well to start free e-rickshaw rides for women and children and thus address both their safety and local commute concerns.
• It can work with the central government to train the police force in gender sensitivity to make the national capital safer for women in overall terms.
• Proper security measures like (CCTV, Floor marshals etc) to deal with the misbehaviour and other such alike cases
• Collaborating with the private sector (like encouraging their women employees to travel via public transport, provision of buses etc).
• Protection to activists in sensitive cases must be provided.
• Besides, the real demands in light of the safety concerns are enlightened education campaigns and a heightened investment on security and vigilance.
• Instead of subsidies, the government can augment Delhi’s bus service in terms of quantity and security.