[Inés Lallana]

I am Inés student of transport and mobility.

I have lived in different cities where different transport dynamics existed.

First I lived in the outskirts of Madrid where the modes of mobility were either by car or by public transport. There I could see that women tended to use public transport or the car as passengers more and men used the private car. I could see that some of the causes of this difference were due to the fact that most of the people who used public transport were domestic workers who went to the houses where they worked and these people were always women who did not have access to a car, also in general the number of women with driving licences was lower than men.

Then I lived in the centre of Madrid, where people also move around by public transport, walking or by car. The number of men who use the car is higher, probably because the percentage of men working in large companies with offices with parking is much higher than that of women. On the other hand, more women walk or use public transport for shorter distances as they are more likely to go shopping, take their children to school or to the doctor or do other care-related tasks. In addition, at night, women tend to travel by public transport and more by taxi due to security concerns.

I currently live in Ghent, where the majority of transportation is by bicycle or on foot, followed by public transport or car. I haven’t noticed a significant difference between using a bicycle or public transport during the day. However, at night, it’s clear that almost only men walk, while women mostly use bicycles (as there is no public transport at night) because walking alone at night creates feelings of insecurity.

 

 

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