News

International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate progress, while reflecting and acknowledging the challenges that still exist for women.

One challenge on our transport networks is making sure they better reflect women’s travel needs and are safe and accessible for everyone. That’s why at Transport East we’re committed to #AccelerateAction this International Women’s Day.

Women and men’s travel patterns are linked to their wider social roles and responsibilities, and informed by other environmental factors including feelings of safety. Understanding these differences is key to making women’s every day journeys in the East easier and transport safer, fairer, and better for the environment.

Here at Transport East, 5 of our 8 full-time permanent staff are women, and our experiences and perspectives inform our work. We also consciously seek out women’s perspectives across our work including in:

• Data and analysis – applying a gender lens, along with other demographics to understand the impact of potential changes to transport on women in the East
• Engagement – ensuring women’s views are heard by us and our partners; and
• Our events –  amplifying the voices of expert women in transport and the East.

 

The national picture

In the UK, private cars remain the most popular mode of transport, contributing significantly to congestion and carbon emissions. However, some people either depend on or choose to travel by public transport. This is particularly true for women, who use buses more frequently than men, making 30% more bus journeys annually. On average, women take 56 local bus trips per year, compared to 43 by men.

Women also make a significant number of journeys on foot. In 2022, women in England averaged 289 walking trips annually – 18% more than the 244 trips recorded for men.

Despite these trends, many barriers prevent women from making sustainable travel choices. Issues such as the frequency of public transport services, cost, and safety concerns all play a role. Compared to men, women are 10% more likely to report feeling unsafe on public transport in cities. Safety concerns also affect active travel choices such as walking and cycling.

Cycling sees a significant gender gap. In 2022, men made nearly three times as many cycling trips as women and covered three times the distance. A survey by Cycling UK found that nearly half of female respondents avoided cycling due to safety concerns, with older women being the most apprehensive.

 

Focus on the East

The Transport East Travel Behaviour Survey (2024) provides valuable insights into how women in the East travel and the barriers they face:

• Reasons for travel: Women in the East are less likely to be travelling to work, and more likely to be visiting friends or relatives, food shopping, taking kids to school or running errands. This shows the increased variety of trips women tend to make in comparison with men.
• Cycling: While 44% of respondents said they owned a bike, only 5% of women (versus 11% of men) reported travelling by bike in the 2 days before the survey. Road traffic was a concern for 45% of women, and 32% cited poor street lighting as a deterrent.
• Walking: Women and men reported very similar levels of walking in the survey, and for both it was the most frequent way of travelling. In terms of barriers, women tended to report fewer barriers to walking than men, but safety concerns particularly around street lighting were raised by 22% of women.
• Bus Travel: Inconvenient routes were identified as the top barrier to bus use by 52% of women, while 48% pointed to poor frequency as a significant issue. Differences in barriers reported between women and men were around cost of travel (36% of women; 3% above men), safety (24% of women; 2% above men), and limited early/late services (24% of women; 3% above men).
• Train travel: Women reported less train travel than men with only 10% of women using the train in a typical week compared to 14% for men. They reported fewer barriers to use than men, so this difference could be linked to employment locations.

Although these statistics highlight current barriers to sustainable travel – leading to private vehicles remaining the dominant mode of transport – the survey also revealed strong support among women in the East for public transport and active travel in the future.

• 77% of women expressed a desire for more public transport routes and services.
• 63% wanted better walking and cycling infrastructure.

Women also demonstrated a strong commitment to environmental issues. While 79% of men reported concern about climate change, the figure was even higher for women at 85%. Additionally, 74% of women felt that local councils should do more to tackle climate change, showing strong public support for greener transport policies.

 

How can we make transport networks easier and safer for women?

To improve travel for women, several actions could be taken:

• Encouraging walking and cycling – Investing in safer cycling lanes, better street lighting, and traffic calming measures could make more women feel comfortable choosing active travel. Wider campaigns to help men understand the impact of their behaviour in public spaces can also have a positive impact, with messaging on how small changes by men can help women feel safer.
• Improving safety on public transport – Enhancing lighting at stations and stops, clear information about what to do if someone feels unsafe, alongside public awareness campaigns drawing attention to the behaviours that lead to people feeling unsafe on transport, can help women feel safer when using buses and trains.
• Expanding public transport services – Since women rely more on buses than men, expanding services and routes, and running them for longer in the day would provide safer and more convenient alternatives to driving.
• Including women in transport planning – Women’s experiences should directly shape transport policies. Evidence has shown where changes are made that are designed to benefit women, these actually benefit wider groups including older people, disabled people, and young people. More research, consultations, and gender-focused planning can help create a fairer and safer transport system for all.

 

Conclusion

Women’s travel choices are influenced by multiple factors, including accessibility, reliability, safety, and environmental awareness. Addressing these challenges is not just a matter of fairness – it is essential to creating a transport system that works better for everyone.

This International Women’s Day, we are committed to #AccelerateAction to make travel more inclusive, safer and greener. By taking action now, we can build a transport system that benefits all.