The condition of women commuters in buses and trains in the city continues to be pathetic, according to a survey by a US-based consultancy firm.
A group of consultants from Dalberg Global Advisors, a firm appointed by the World Bank, interviewed a number of women commuters who frequently travel in BEST buses and local trains.
More than half of the women surveyed feel that boarding and alighting from a bus is “unsafe” for them, according to Antara Ganguly, who headed the survey.
“Although the survey said that the buses are safer than trains, the women felt that either the doors are too small or the halt timings are too short – which often turn out to be a risk for them,” said Ganguly.
As per the findings of the survey, women commuters tend to travel during the off peak hours and they also walk a lot more than men commuters. “On the positive side, we found that most women said that a bus stop was barely five minutes walking distance from their houses, as compared to a railway station, which was close to 20 minutes away,” said Ganguly.
While safety of boarding and alighting from the buses is one major issue, sanitation at suburban railway stations is another.
According to the survey, there is just one toilet at a suburban railway station for 9,000 female commuters. In case of male, the figure is 5,500 per single toilet.
“This is indeed a sorry situation. While the recommendations of the Indian Railways say that a single toilet should not have more than 167 users, the worldwide standard is 500 users per toilet.
However, the 2008-09 railways budget had a poor Rs14 lakh earmarked for construction or improvement of toilets, a clear indication towards the apathy of the administration towards women commuters,” added Ganguly.
According to her, this was just a preliminary survey and the recommendations to the World Bank will continue through a continuous dialogue with women and NGOs.
The survey sample, however, was well below one’s expectations. Ganguly did admit that the sample size (231 women and 121 men) – that too with an average monthly income of below Rs9,000 – was not entirely reflective of the ground reality.
“We have not claimed that this was an exhaustive survey. We have come up with some recommendations and have submitted them to the World Bank. They will be taking this forward and surveys which are more comprehensive may follow after this initial process,” said Ganguly.
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