Safety, accessibility and service efficiency are the main factors to consider for women metro and rail users based on the feedback and satisfaction levels of 1,100 male and female users in Catalonia, Ireland and Poland compiled as part of the European Diamond project coordinated by the Eurecat technology centre.
Women users surveyed chiefly rate station safety, good emergency management, preventing overcrowding and protecting passengers and employees along with service availability and efficiency and universal design of infrastructures which are accessible to all.
The project aims to “develop a self-diagnostic tool and protocols for the transport industry to foster more inclusive and efficient transport systems from a gender perspective by tapping machine learning, big data and non-discriminatory algorithms,” says Lali Soler, director of the Big Data & Data Science Unit at Eurecat.
The information gathered will make it possible to develop a new tool that “will generate and publicise recommendations for a fairer and more inclusive transport system and identify mobility-related challenges from a gender perspective,” adds Diamond project coordinator Lucía Recio.
Rolling out Diamond’s results in four real-life scenarios
The Diamond project’s results will be used in European public transport, autonomous vehicles, bike sharing services and transport industry hiring capacity as case studies.
In public transport, needs and expectations in terms of safety within a station, accessibility and comfort are studied through Decision Support Systems (DSS), while guidelines are to be drawn up for autonomous vehicles to ensure an inclusive experience.
As for bike sharing, needs and expectations will be factored into service planning and fleet positioning.
Likewise, the presence of women in specific jobs in the transport industry and emerging new opportunities will be addressed under corporate social responsibility and employment.
European transport systems from a gender perspective
The transport industry in Europe employs 11 million people, only 22 percent of whom are women, and generates €548 million in gross value added for the European Union’s member states.
In Europe, women account for 14 percent of staff in road and rail transport compared to men, 40 percent in air transport and 20 percent in inland waterway and maritime transport. Diamond is consequently seeking to raise the number of women in the industry by matching the features and needs of women to the changes and opportunities in the transport and mobility market.
The project is part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme and involves 14 partners from Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Serbia, Poland, France and Ireland. They are research centres (Eurecat and IBV-Biomechanics Institute of Valencia), universities (University of Stirling, Edinburgh Napier University, Technological University Dublin and the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering at the University of Belgrade), transport operators (Catalan Government Railways, the Public Transport Authority of Warsaw and Autolib’ Vélib’), associations (Genre & Ville and WAVE) and businesses and consultancies (AITEC, Systematica and RINA).
