One hundred thousand women. Every day in greater Toronto, one hundred thousand more women than men take public transit to work. Of the roughly 660,000 people who commute by transit, 58% are women. Almost one third of women commuters take transit to work, compared to one fifth of men.
With International Women’s Day arriving one day after Toronto City Council votes on its budget, it’s good timing to think about how gender and public transit connect. Women take transit on their way to work that is paid, on average, less than men. Because of this income gap, men are more likely to have access to cars. Women taking transit are also more likely to be racialized and recent immigrants.
What kind of transit trips are women taking? Transit trips in lower-income neighborhoods are more likely to be by bus, on routes in mixed traffic, or bus transfers to subway, and less likely to be subway-only or GO rail. These routes are often crowded, unreliable, and slow. People commuting by transit pay a cost in time. Women on transit can also be exposed to harassment and safety issues.
Women are more likely to do household shopping and care for children. These additional responsibilities mean more stops along the commute and needing more space on the bus for strollers, kids, and groceries.
What transit improvements would benefit women? Better service across the network: reliability, capacity, frequency, speed, coverage. Lower and more integrated fares. Safety and wayfinding. Better accessibility for those with strollers and large packages. Unsurprisingly, and happily, the same kinds of improvements that would benefit all kinds of riders, not just women, and help shift mode.
It’s worth recognizing who holds up and embodies everyday sustainability through travel patterns. Let’s pay it back and forward with better transit.