WomenLead India Alliance reposted this
Grateful to get the opportunity to participate in forums like these that acknowledge the need for organisations to come together and create space for dialogues between diverse actors. Making public transport inclusive is an urgent critical need that needs work at multiple levels, across cities, across ecosystem, across citizens and across age groups simultaneously. Thank you @Nicore Associatea and Artha Global for creating the platform. WomenLead India Alliance
As part of #Metrodialogues, Artha Global, with Nikore Associates, held a discussion on ‘Envisioning Inclusivity: Advancing Gender Responsive Public Infrastructure in Mumbai Metro’, exploring how gender mainstreaming in public transport affects women’s presence in public spaces. Keynote speaker at the event, Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, emphasised on mobility being an important factor for women’s participation in the workforce subsequently influencing their experience of a city. Acknowledging the absence of data on experiences of women using public transit, she also cited the need to assess if the presence of safety infrastructure such as CCTV leads to desired outcomes. The restricted geographical radii for women was highlighted by Mitali Nikore, Founder and Chief Economist at Nikore Associates, who moderated the roundtable. She said, ‘in Delhi, our research showed that women on average travel 6 km while men travel around 12-13 km’. Praveen Shetty, Traffic Manager of BEST spoke about an initiative - training conductors to take responsibility for women’s and children’s safety while travelling. He emphasised the need of commuters’ awareness about such initiatives, such as the BEST SOS number. One of the interesting insights shared by Shagun Pal, the Marketing Manager of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd., was to take into consideration the cultural norms and city lifestyle while designing a public transit system. Some key recommendations that emerged from the roundtable include gender budgeting, using technology to develop applications such as the Hawk Eye app in Hyderabad, designing well-lit bus stops, and maintaining a safe environment around the public transport station. Ashwini Bhide Ramana Rachaprolu Mitali Nikore Dr. Anusha Kesarkar-Gavankar Meera Sundarajan Shagun Pal Aishwarya Agarwal ElsaMarie D'Silva (she/her) Gauri Sanghi Ankita Kapoor Vishal Ramprasad Pritika Hingorani Niranjan Rajadhyaksha Mayura Gadkari Karan Shah Vivek Vaidyanathan Hemali Sodhi Yashika Doshi Nidhi Dingrani Nitika Narayan Safetipin Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) Observer Research Foundation Akshara Centre Dasra Red Dot Foundation - Safecity Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Mumbai Metro One Pvt. Ltd. L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd. World Resources Institute OMI Foundation Greater Chennai Corporation HARYANA MASS RAPID TRANSPORT CORPORATION LIMITED