Women are twice as likely to use public transport for work commute | Data

Women, during the launch of the free bus travel ‘Shakti’ scheme for Women at Vidhana Soudha, in Bengaluru on June 11, 2023. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

The National Household Travel Survey (NHTS), which captures how people in India travel to the workplace, shows a clear gender divide in mobility and the modes used to travel to work.

Data shows that women are twice as likely as men to commute to work using public transport such as buses or trains or on foot compared to men.

Nearly 67% of all women who commuted to work relied on walking or buses or other public transport. This figure was only 33% for all men who commuted to work.

In rural areas, more than half of all women who were working walked to their workplaces. However, a large share of men were dependent on two-wheelers.

While two-wheelers remained a major mode of transport for both men and women in urban areas, women were not solely reliant on two-wheelers.