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Gender, Smart Mobility and COVID-19
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted people’s main routine, which certainly includes their mobility habits. This paper aims to assess the pandemic’s mobility impacts and whether these may have increased the already existing inequality between men and women. In particular, the variation of mode choice in a pre-COVID and post-COVID scenario is investigated, focusing on the use of transport mode defined as Smart Mobility. The analysis is performed on data collected in thirteen European countries between July and September 2020 through a survey designed using an intersectional approach. Responses are analyzed to highlight correlations between different factors affecting mobility changes: some interest is reserved to the modes used according to the journey scope (work, errand, shopping). Overall, results reveal more people walking for their daily journeys, while a significant decrease in the use of public transport is observed. Although these changes affect women more, the main reason behind this is the need for more safety in terms of low risk of contagion, irrespective of gender. A specific focus on using modes commonly associated with a Smart Mobility offer (such as shared modes, public transport, walking, and biking) reveals differences originating when comparing men and women responses and various age ranges.
... The results of the crosstabulation analysis show that men use the subway after the pandemic more than women; 36% of men say they use the subway after the outbreak, compared to 19% of women (Table 8). As previous research has shown, after the Covid-19 outbreak, women are one of the groups whose travel behaviors are more affected by the pandemic (Carboni et al., 2021, González-Sánchez et al., 2021. The reason why women use the subway less after the Covid-19 outbreak may be that, as previous research in Iran has shown, women are more likely to be concerned about maintaining social distance than men because they are more concerned about the spread of the virus and infection (Mohammadpour et al., 2020). ...
Identifying and examining factors affecting the use of the subway is critical for developing countries as they struggle with high levels of auto use and resulting congestion, noise and air pollution. In this research, we surveyed students of a top-ranked university in the capital of Iran before and after the COVID-19 outbreak to identify the factors affecting their use of the subway. Chi-square tests show that gender, level of education, and being the only child of the family have the highest impact on using a private car. These variables had no significant influence on students' mode choice to university before the COVID-19 pandemic, when students' mode choice was only a function of their residence location. However, the pandemic has affected priorities for mode choice. For instance, hygiene and social distancing, which were previously insignificant to students, are now among their top criteria, and travel time and cost are less important for students than in the past. As a result, subway use has significantly decreased. Based on the results of the research, when making relevant policies, more attention should be paid to the groups of women, undergraduate students and single children that are more likely to use private cars.
... Although these changes affect women the most, the main reason behind this, is the need for greater security in terms of low risk of contagion, regardless of gender. Furthermore, a specific focus on the use of sustainable transport modes such as shared modes, public transport, walking and cycling with the evolution of smart cities reveals differences that arise when comparing the responses of men and women and the various groups of age [51]. Finally, the new circumstances created by the pandemic have influenced the interdependencies between the objectives of Agenda 2030. ...
Cities today face unprecedented challenges generated, among others, by climate change, demographic change, economic crisis and technological innovation. The Agenda 2030 sustainable goals aim to create more equitable and sustainable cities which account for all citizens’ needs and break down gender stereotypes. The mobility sector is still characterised by an uneven choice of travel modes due to multiple economic, social and cultural reasons. The COVID-19 crisis imposed harsh travel restrictions that had differentiated impacts on the mobility of various user groups, including the gender-defined ones. In this paper, the main social and economic trends, which affect gender demand, are identified along with their main characteristics. An overview of successful pre-pandemic European experiences in the gender planning field is discussed, with the aim of increasing the level of knowledge on the issue, adapting mobility services to meet the needs of all people, rethinking urban mobility and public space planning by incorporating more criteria of accessibility and sustainability, and improving the quality and safety of cycling, walking and public transport routes. For the recent pandemic circumstances, we indicate the facts that led women to experience a differentiated mobility landscape than men. Our research findings highlight the main factors that have led to gender inequality and discuss the gender gaps which emerged. Finally, we provide suggestions for the mitigation of this problem, laying the foundations for defining best practices useful for transport managers and authorities, which also increase both the quality of life and economic and employment opportunities.
The problem of many Central and Eastern European countries is very fragmented structure of public administration at the local level. It is also a specific of the Slovak Republic with 95,23% of local municipalities with less as 5000 inhabitants. The size of municipality (number of inhabitants, cad aster) influences significantly the total sum of funds needed to realize all original competences, as well as to implement innovative tools of local governance. The aim of the paper is to define the specifics of communication as a part of local governance implemented by small local municipalities and to propose how the communication can be developed in line with the concept of smart governance reflecting the human and financial limits of smaller municipalities. The paper presents selected findings of primary research on the utilization of traditional and digital tools in local governance realized by the Delphi method and compares them with the results of secondary research in the municipalities of the Slovak Republic with less than 5 000 inhabitants.
In recent decades, local and metropolitan authorities worldwide have shown an increasing interest in applying new development strategies that integrate transport and land-use solutions to mitigate the negative consequences of development on the physical and social environment and the economy in urban areas. The progressive application of the smart city paradigm in different urban development sectors from mobility to urban services is influencing decision-makers’ and stakeholders’ choices. This research proposes a new spatial analysis method to evaluate the “smartness” of land-use and transport integration projects using an updated version of the Node-Place Butterfly model. The method was applied to the 18 stations area of Line 1 of the Naples metro. The results showed significant variation in the level of smartness from the city centre to the peripheral areas, with Node and Place components unbalanced for some stations.
European cities have seen an increase in the use of personal means as an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic: they are asked to accelerate the shift towards more sustainable modes, as the active ones. The current paper tries to shed light on how the perception towards these latter modes changes according to gender. In the framework of H2020 TInnGO project, data collected through a survey in three European cities (Turin, Valencia, Paris) are investigated. Results show that women are more worried about safety, both while walking or riding a bike, as female cyclists do not appreciate sharing space with motor vehicles. Moreover, the absence of a dedicated space for children prevents women from starting to use bike-sharing. Comparing the results in the three cities provides interesting indications and suggestions for including the need of all active modes users in transport planning.
The investigation of active mobility perception for different classes of users is crucial to include all mobility needs and increase the accessibility of these modes. Elements like the perception of safety, security and the shape of the urban environment (e.g., provision of cycle paths) are to be considered while analyzing the different mobility choices between men and women. The current study focuses on the answers of a survey among representative samples of the population of two European cities, namely Valencia and Turin. Data collected in these similarly structured ‘bike friendly’ sites are compared following an intersectional approach based on gender and age. The results showed, for example, that, in general, cyclists are somewhat affected by safety issues, especially in terms of sharing space with motor vehicles. Or that women are less satisfied with the level of safety during walking. When considering bike-sharing, women seem more responsive to adding a dedicated space for children to start using this mode. The analysis of the results helps in providing interesting indications and suggestions for transport planning.
As sustainability is becoming a common practice in planning transport systems and mobility services, the designation and management of gender issues are of paramount importance. TInnGO is a European Project that has developed a network of 10 national Hubs to build the capacity to generate and apply evidence on gender equality and transport issues at the European level. This paper presents the project activities by introducing a relevant framework and exploring user mobility experiences based on gender to identify diversified needs and requirements. This process relies on the combination of a review of current gender-oriented experiences and practices in mobility with focus group activities conducted in four different EU cities. The insights obtained from these activities supported the design of a survey to collect information on socioeconomic, personal, and operational aspects to serve a gender-oriented transport analysis for all the Hubs. These preliminary analyses identified the main issues related to the female mobility experience, namely safety, security, accessibility, and transport reliability. Future research on the data collected through the survey would help operators in successfully improving their mobility offer to women.
People with disabilities may be particularly vulnerable to the direct health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the wider impacts of the pandemic response. People with disabilities experience numerous barriers to using transportation to access essential goods, like fresh food, and services, like medical care, that are necessary for maintaining health. The pandemic and the pandemic response threaten to exacerbate persistent health disparities and add to transportation barriers that disadvantage people with disabilities. To better understand difficulties that individuals with disabilities are facing using transportation and meeting their needs during the pandemic, I conducted in-depth interviews with 21 San Francisco Bay Area residents with disabilities between March 20 and April 6, 2020, immediately following adoption of the first shelter-in-place orders in the region. Analyzing these interviews, I find that the pandemic is aggravating many difficulties accessing transportation and other essentials that people with disabilities regularly encounter. These include challenges accessing reliable and safe transportation as well as up-to-date communications about transportation and public health, and difficulties getting needed assistance using transportation and completing activities of daily living ranging from personal care to getting groceries. I recommend that those involved in the pandemic response make a concerted and intentional effort to address barriers to accessing needed transportation, communications, and assistance that people with disabilities are facing during the pandemic, paving the way for a more inclusive pandemic response.
Various measures were recommended or imposed by the governments to control the spread of COVID-19. Travel behaviors are significantly influenced due to such measures. However, people have various travel needs ranging from grocery shopping to work. This study examines the changes that occurred in travel behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected through an online questionnaire survey that included questions on trip purpose, mode choice, distance traveled, and frequency of trips before and during COVID-19. 1,203 responses were collected from various countries around the world.
Results explained that trip purpose, mode choice, distance traveled, and frequency of trips for the primary travel were significantly different before and during the pandemic. Further, the majority of trips were made for shopping during the pandemic. There was a significant shift from public transport to private transport and non-motorized modes. People placed a higher priority on the pandemic related concerns while choosing a mode during the pandemic as compared to the general concerns. Gender, car ownership, employment status, travel distance, the primary purpose of traveling, and pandemic-related underlying factors during COVID-19 were found to be significant predictors of mode choice during the pandemic.
Outcomes of this study could be useful in transport planning and policymaking during pandemics based on the travel needs of people. In particular, government authorities could utilize such knowledge for planning smart and partial lockdowns. Service providers, e.g., taxi companies and retailers, could use such information to better plan their services and operations.
The European transport sector is marked by a strong, persistent unconscious bias, which produces gendered inequalities that permeate all aspects of the domain from design, modelling, implementation, education, employment and usage. The TInnGO project will create a framework and mechanisms for sustainable change in gender and diversity mobility through the development of a Pan European TInnGO observatory. This will lead, coordinate, and be fed by hubs across EU (UK, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Baltic states, Denmark/Sweden, Italy) providing international and national leadership, innovation and critical reviews of smart mobility innovations. The ambition is to become a template for other observatories to address barriers to women’s mobility through gendered, culturally sensitive smart mobility innovations. Written during the first year of a 3-year project, the paper provides an overview of the concept and initial results.
Serious gaps are found when evaluating the recognition and inclusion of gender aspects in transport strategies, research and innovation. Similar issues can be spotted in the transport labor market, where only 22% of workers are women at the European level. The roots of these limitations are in the low participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) studies and, therefore, in the traditionally male-dominated transport field occupations. Stemming from the European project TInnGO, the current paper proposes a descriptive analysis to evaluate the gender gaps in educational provision and research in ten European countries. Specific indicators, such as percentages in the gender composition or the presence of university courses dealing with mobility and transport, have been defined and their availability in different countries is verified. In addition, a desktop review of practices for encouraging and supporting women in STEM studies is operated, underling characteristics such as the kind of initiative, the methods and tools used, the target group or the type of promoter. The results of this activity show that a wide network of associations and mentoring operates in various European nations, mostly targeting secondary school students, trying to make females aware of their potentialities in a deeply gender-biased field like the STEM one.
Bike-sharing systems have witnessed rapid growth in the last decades. Bike-sharing has been found to influence modal shift from car, public transit, and active transportation modes. However, the impacts on modal shift by considering different kinds of bike-sharing systems are rarely discussed. This study examines the modal shift dynamics and the influential factors on modal shift in response to various bike-sharing systems. Data are obtained by an online survey targeting both non-bike-sharing users and bike-sharing users in a Dutch context. Binary logit models are developed to investigate the relationship between modal shift to bike-sharing with socio-demographic, commuting trip and motivation factors. The survey results show that dockless bike-sharing (Mobike) users are more likely to be non-Dutch and often have no driving license, whereas the situation is opposite for docked bike-sharing (OV-fiets), bicycle-lease (Swapfiets) and non-bike-sharing users. Except for train use, bike-sharing users reduced walking, the use of private bicycle, bus/tram and car. Swapfiets showed a most significant influence on modal shift for both single and multimodal trips. The regression model results indicate that “No stolen/damage problem” and “Cheaper than other modes” are significant factors promoting dockless bike-sharing and bicycle-lease. “Good quality of bicycles” is a significant factor considered by docked bike-sharing and bicycle-lease users. “Public transport subsidy by employer” encourages commuters to shift to docked bike-sharing, whereas individuals with a government student discount are less likely to shift to Swapfiets. Male and multimodal commuters are more likely to use dockless bike-sharing. Commuters are less likely to shift to docked bike-sharing if the trips are “Short” or suitable for “Private bicycle”. The findings provide a clear understanding of the modal shift and its determinants that can help municipal planning and policy decision-making in terms of bike-sharing systems.
Women in urban areas have specific requirements for their daily mobility. Car sharing services are mostly used by men as shown in studies from different countries. This study aims for understanding specific reasons and requirements of respective trips in women’s every day live to help dismantle hurdles, which hinder women to use carsharing services. An innovative methodological approach connects directly to the current discussion of daily mobility and socio spatial theory. In this study, five cases of women living in Berlin within the business area of free-floating carsharing providers with and without battery electric vehicles will be analysed. All of them hold a drivers’ licence and fit in the profile of early adopters of E-carsharing. For seven days, their trips were tracked with gps tracking devices, while they were asked to note the circumstances of the respective trips.
After this period, they reported in semi-structured interviews what was important to them to make their mode decision. In addition, the respondents were asked about their possible experiences with sharing services and expectations to shift their mobility away from a privately-owned vehicle to sustainable e-mobility. Objective GPS-tracks are connected to subjective interpretation of every-day mobility of the respondents. All trips are visualized, and colour coded according to mode choice and specifically purposes and influencing factors of the respective trips. Different maps with groups of similar trips show that women have their preferred mode for respective trips and can be explained with gender typical social roles. Especially, expectations of and experiences with carsharing with and without battery electric vehicles are shaped by factors because of gender typical tasks.
Women’s preferences even in modern urban areas can be explained with their gender typical tasks due to their social roles. It becomes apparent, that there are gender-based hurdles in carsharing services with and without electric vehicles, which categorically exclude many women.
Making Cities Smarter is the challenge of the new millennium, even in a context of profound structural crisis like the present one. In fact, there is an urgent need to rethink the models of socio-economic development to make them more consistent with the new social needs, in particular related to the territorial liveability and social inclusion. In the literature produced in recent years and that has stimulated reflections, ideas, research and projects for a smart urban development, a “smart city” is generally meant as a city capable of joining “competitiveness” and “sustainability”, by integrating different dimensions of development (economic, mobility, environment, people, living and governance). However, the actions have been largely focused on ICTs and their impacts on urban development.This contribution starts from a reflection, already begun by the authors, on the theme of “Smart City” as “Senseable city”, which means that we need to focus the discussion no more on “how cities can be smarter” but on “how intelligent technologies can lead us to rethink the patterns of urban development by making them fair and inclusive, as well as efficient and sustainable”. In this paper, the attention is focused on another aspect that in recent years is becoming increasingly important in terms of the development of smart cities, that is the social innovation, understood as innovative practice with the aim of creating a positive impact for society that is as wide as possible. The direct and indirect impact that the creation of social innovation can exercise in terms of urban development will lead us to talk about different models of Smart Cities as “Social Cities”. Finally, investigating the Italian experience, the article shows how, despite the efforts, the current approaches to the problem are still very far from considering a Smart City as a local system focused on innovation, a system in which the application of new technologies is not random but responds to a strategic project that starts from the bottom, from the real needs of the citizen.
Lockdowns and voluntary social distancing led to significant reduction in people’s mobility. Yet, there is scant evidence on the heterogeneous effects across segments of the population. Using unique mobility indicators based on anonymized and aggregate data provided by Vodafone for Italy, Portugal, and Spain, we find that lockdowns had a larger impact on the mobility of women and younger cohorts. Younger people also experienced a sharper drop in mobility in response to rising COVID-19 infections. Our findings, which are consistent across estimation methods and robust to a variety of tests, warn about a possible widening of gender and inter-generational inequality and provide important inputs for the formulation of targeted policies.
Mobility studies have shown that travel patterns and means use vary a lot comparing women and men behavior. In recent years, new solutions have been introduced in the urban mobility offer and the interest raised in investigating how they can help in reducing the gender mobility gap. The current work analyzes 2934 responses collected through a car sharing survey proposed in Italy with the precise objective of considering women and men like different kinds of users to delineate characteristics that could influence car sharing modal choice. A hierarchical clustering technique is applied to the dataset collecting a selection of questions, mainly focusing on socioeconomics features, travel patterns and individual habits. The algorithm identifies 8 clusters in the male dataset and 9 clusters in the female one, defined according to characteristics aggregating the survey respondents. Thus, a selection of these groups of respondents is analyzed in more detail according to their percentage of car sharing users, also comparing the results among male and female datasets. Many common attributes are found in clusters irrespective of the gender, showing how the interest (and its lack) toward this service affects women and men similarly. At the same time, this analysis helps in identifying the features characterizing the users to investigate how this new mobility offer can help in reducing the gender mobility gap.
The sharing economy is competing with traditional companies in many different industries and markets nowadays. One of first and most strongly affected industries is transportation. Efforts have been directed at finding more sustainable ways of moving from place to place and reducing deficiencies in public infrastructure. Carsharing has been promoted as a relatively sustainable means of travel. However, new means of travel may increase gender gaps or create new ones. A survey of 228 women was carried out to investigate use of both car clubs and peer-to-peer carsharing, analysing the carsharing business model and personal motivations. We found that women use carsharing when they perceive business and personal value in doing so. Nevertheless, there were significant differences in perceptions of car club and peer-to-peer carsharing. Implications for management, policy and research are presented to promote efforts to eliminate gender gaps in transportation.
In the world of shared economy, the mobility sector is one of the fastest-growing segments and includes app-based services to use shared cars, bikes, parking, shuttles and more. Its sudden growth is due to the popularity of smart-phones and companies that provide mobility on demand. Reportedly, it has changed the way people move. But how well do we know its impact on gender equality in mobility? This paper discusses the results of an exploratory review of the existing research on shared mobility that reveals that most of the research is focused towards assessing its impacts on transit ridership, congestion, environmental factors, car-ownership and modal shift. Very little attention is paid on how it impacts access, safety, ease or comfort of mobility for females, whose travelling needs are strikingly different than those of men. There are views, speculations and even expert opinions on the potential impacts; however, currently available information clearly shows that these services are used mainly by men implying that they are only widening the gender gap in our cities. Detailed empirical studies in developing and developed countries can establish the reasons for this gendered pattern, so that they can be resolved to create gender parity in urban mobility.
Bike-sharing is one of the rapidly growing transport services around the world. This study aims to identify the factors that affect gender differences in bike share ridership. Using data from New York City's Citi Bike Share system, we investigate the environmental correlates of bike share usage for males and females. We also model the influences of bicycle facilities, land use factors, and public transit services on the share of trip arrivals made by females. The results suggest that the environmental correlates of bike share usage for males and females are broadly similar. However, the estimated magnitudes suggest that our variables of interest may influence males and females differently. For example, installing more bicycle racks are positively associated with bike share ridership for both genders. We further find that this factor affects women more than men. Specifically, a 1% increase in the number of bicycle racks is correlated with a 1.18% increment in the share of trips arrivals made by women. The findings can be used to assess the effectiveness of future infrastructure investments aimed at minimizing the gender gap in bike share usage. The findings also offer valuable insights into the ways of increasing the overall bike share ridership, thereby promoting local bicycling culture.
Research for TRAN committee - COVID-19 and urban mobility: impacts and perspectives
- G Lozzi
- E Marcucci
- V Gatta
- A Pacelli
- M Rodrigues
- T Teoh
Effects of COVID-19 measures on mobility of men and women
- A V D Kloof
- J Kensmil