Does night-time public transport contribute to inclusive night mobility? Exploring Sofia's night bus network from a gender perspective

Abstract

However, the theoretical approaches taken under this broad heading vary greatly. Historically, scholarship on women and transport has relied on positivist, and arguably somewhat essentialist, comparisons of the travel behaviour of men and women (Joelsson and Lindkvist Scholten, 2019, p. 3). Such research has been important in documenting inequalities, for instance in terms of travel times, access to private cars, ability to reach job opportunities, share of income spent on mobility, and experiences of vulnerability (Kwan and Kotsev, 2014;Lecompte and Bocarejo, 2017). More recently, work on mobility has increasingly explored relational, embodied and situated understandings of how gendered inequalities are produced and reproduced by and through mobility (

Geographies of night work

“…Furthermore, within the night-time city, public service provision is generally weaker. Public transport at night is often absent, or when present infrequent, more dangerous, less convenient and more expensive (Plyushteva and Boussauw, 2020). By and large the provision of nocturnal services is designed around the imagined users of pubs, bars and clubs, rather than the workers servicing those sites, creating challenges for those working in the night.…”

The effects of COVID-19 on female and male bike sharing users: Insights from Lisbon's GIRA

“…In addition, since women tend to have multiple attached roles, they are more likely to undertake multipurpose and chained trips than men ( Mahadevia & Advani, 2016 ). Furthermore, they are more sensitive to traffic congestion, overcrowded buses, and the risk of harassment ( Plyushteva & Boussauw, 2020 ).…”

Gender Differences in Transport Behaviour Patterns

“…This is because women feel insecure and vulnerable more often than men, or to be at risk of various attacks, which may limit their travel at certain times, for example at night [4]. If women wish to have a level of night-time mobility comparable to men, in terms of distance travelled, it can only be achieved with a greater economic burden, resulting, for example, from higher costs of taxi use combined with generally lower incomes, and in overcoming more significant constraints resulting from insufficient security [8].…”