Women’s urban mobility and the role of bike sharing
By Marina Pereira S. G. da Silva, Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning and Specialist in Urban Mobility.
Distinct patterns of mobility
Talking about women’s mobility is to talk about an attentive look at the differences. It is important for such to start from two questions. The first is the fact that the urban environment is not neutral, much less the policies and decisions about it. The second is the fact that women and men have different travel patterns. In this regard, mobility is a significant starting point to observe certain inequalities.
Women go on trips for most varied reasons (home, work, market, caring for other people, etc.), by different modes of transportation and in larger numbers than men (Figure 01). In the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (RMSP), according to the Analysis of the Origin and Destination Survey 2017 (OD 2017), the main female commutes, by mode of transport, were made on foot (34%), by bus (23%) and by car (12%). As to main male commutes, by mode of transportation, were on foot (29%), by car (25%), and by bus (16%) (Figure 02).
In connection with trips by mode of transport in the RMSP, bicycle trips by women make up only 0.2% of their total trips, a proportion that is almost ten times higher in case of men, with about 2%. In other words, if the trips done by bicycle in the RMSP still represent only 0.9% of the total trips, 90% of them are male and only the remaining 10% are female.
On the other hand, data on Tembici bicycle sharing system, collected between 2019 and 2021 in Latin America, indicate that the percentage of women using this type of bicycle service tends to be higher than expected in the metropolis of São Paulo, at 38%. One assumption (to be explored further) is that women use shared bicycles more often. And if we take into account that they have less access to this type of vehicle, it would be appropriate to think that they elect to use this system.
Also based on the OD 2017, using a spatial cutout of the São Paulo Tembici system’s bike sharing service area, it is estimated that a woman is almost 1.8 times more likely to make a bike trip in the service region — it should be noted, mostly located in the city’s affluent southwest quadrant — when compared to the city as a whole. It should be pointed out that the reasons for this phenomenon may be multiple. But the fact is that the greater availability of infrastructure and services seems to be a decisive factor contributing to the more significant use of bicycles by women.
Women, bicycles and insecurity
There are strong indications that the fact that fewer women than men use bicycles is related to the women’s fear of being victims of traffic accidents, harassment and also cultural issues. Coupled with this, Marina Harkot (2018), in her master’s dissertation, highlighted that the unusual use of bicycles among women in Brazilian cities results from the lack of encouragement from childhood, lack of mastery, and a lower access to these vehicles.
Physical and verbal sexual harassments are violence constantly perpetrated against women in the mobility system and the streets. The fear of suffering violence of this type makes them, when moving around the city, to take appropriate measures and observe collective norms to avoid or reduce the possibility of being victims. The precautions they take range from the use of specific clothing, appropriate footwear for running, carrying objects, choosing and changing routes, types of transportation, among others (Da Silva, 2021). In some instances, quite common, these factors end up limiting their access to the urban environment, causing them to avoid going out in certain places and times.
The role shared bicycle can play in women’s mobility
The use of bicycle by women can influence their independence, freedom, access to city opportunities and, consequently, work and income. It can also improve their sense of security in their commutes, the latter when compared to walking.
One of the occasions women are more victims of sexual harassment and feel more insecure, between their origin and destination, is on their way to and from home on foot to the bus or train stop, station or terminal (Figure 03), as showed by a survey done with university students¹ of RMSP (Da Silva, 2021).
On these commutes, especially those done at night, many women find themselves alone on poorly lit and empty streets. Given that bike sharing is widely used on legs known as the last mile, and thinking about ways to minimize perceptions of insecurity, the use of this service could contribute to improving women’s safety on this commute, since they would make them in a shorter time.
However, for this measure to have an effect it has to be aligned with actions such as increasing the capillarity and densification of the system, coupled with public policies to offer bicycle and public transportation infrastructure, road and public safety measures, vision zero, encouragement to the use of bicycles, and offering of public and private facilities. Finally, the offering of training workshops combined with campaigns to encourage the use of this type of transportation by women and the raising of awareness about harassment and violence can help overcome cultural challenges.
The importance of disaggregated data and mixed analysis methods
Traditional measures of urban travel are not able to understand inequalities in the patterns and factors that mark women’s daily commuting in the cities. As they come from a model more related to male travel, partly disregarding the women’s experiences.
The literature on women’s urban mobility highlights a complexity, derived from multiple factors, such as physical, economic, cultural, and psychological constraints. Looking at mobility in a disaggregated way, starting from social markers such as gender, race, income, age, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, and combining quantitative and qualitative methods, helps to map and observe the different patterns of trips done in the cities. When these contrasts are not considered in transportation policies, a mobility system is generated that is not only inefficient, inadequate, and hostile for all, but also aggravates the gender inequalities.
Future perspectives
In the same way as decisions about cities can deepen inequalities, generate and potentiate women’s insecurity, the assurance of an efficient mobility aligned with their needs can help confront and reduce social differences, discrimination and violence. Putting differences and daily life at the center of discussions, giving visibility to women’s experiences, results in the collection of extremely important information to understand current urban problems and propose more efficient, less generic, and evidence-based policies. In addition, it is imperative to strengthen and encourage women’s participation and representativeness in decision-making spaces, and also of those groups that somehow had their presence in these places historically impaired.
Finally, a few points addressed in this text should be highlighted here. The first one is the fact that places that offer bike sharing services increase the chances for women to use bicycles. The second is that this system can help reduce the perception and insecurity of women on the last leg of their commutes. The third, and last, is the importance of proposing public policies that encourage the use of bicycles by women, such as training, campaigns against harassment, communication to encourage the use of this type of transport, ensuring their safety on their commutes, providing changing rooms and places to shower and change clothes in private environments, and specific infrastructure (such as bike lanes, bike paths, bike racks, connection with public transportation).
Considering that Tembici is the largest bike sharing operator in Latin America. It is important to highlight that the company plays a role that can have a very positive impact on reducing sexual violence, the feeling of insecurity of female cyclists in Latin American cities and can contribute to providing access to the city through affordable and clean transportation, opportunities, freedom, income generation, emancipation, among other diverse and good reasons.
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¹ This research was part of an international survey, Assessment of Victimization and Perceived Safety Among College Students: Focus on women’s transit safety (Assessment of Victimization and Perceived Safety among College Students: with a focus on women’s traffic safety), organized by Profs. Vania Ceccato (KTH, Sweden) and Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris (UCLA, USA). Conducted in 15 cities, from 12 countries and 6 continents. In São Paulo the research was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Paula Freire Santoro, in collaboration with researchers from LabCidade (Laboratório Espaço Público e Direito à Cidade)
