Gender-Responsive Public Transportation in the Dammam Metropolitan Region, Saudi Arabia
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Non UBC
department or school: Engineering, School of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: Sustainability 12 (21): 9068 (2020)
creator: Al-Rashid, Muhammad Ahmad
creator: Nahiduzzaman, Kh Md
creator: Ahmed, Sohel
creator: Campisi, Tiziana
creator: Akgün, Nurten
issued: 2020-11-12T23:12:53Z
issued: 2020-10-31
description: The limited availability of public transportation in Saudi Arabia leads to an increased demand for private vehicles. An increase in using private cars does not meet the global sustainability goals, e.g., reducing energy consumption and improving the air quality. Road users should be encouraged to use sustainable mobility modes, particularly public transportation, equally accessible to both men and women However, women’s mobility has been somewhat limited and challenged in spatio-temporal terms, and partly due to socio-cultural barriers. This study attempts to understand the gender experience of a sample of public transport users and consider their aspirations and needs into daily mobility. A survey campaign (structured interviews and online questionnaires) was launched in the Dammam Metropolitan Region (DMR), taking four different types of respondents into account. The results suggest a predominant preference for taxis for shopping and leisure activities due to a poor public transport service, pivotally characterized by limited operational routes, hours, and infrastructure. This study ponders upon the adequacy of the supporting infrastructures and interior design of the public buses to women’s needs and compare them with global best practices. The results suggest that, due to the absence of a gender-responsive design and infrastructure, women are forced to use taxis, although privacy and a sense of insecurity often become concerns when traveling alone or with children. The study results allow future research to be expanded, considering women’s mobility patterns, needs, and embedded barriers by comparing the results with current transport policies, plans, and practices.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/76500
note: sustainabilityArticleGender-Responsive Public Transportation in theDammam Metropolitan Region, Saudi ArabiaMuhammad Ahmad Al-Rashid 1 , Kh Md Nahiduzzaman 2,* , Sohel Ahmed 3 ,Tiziana Campisi 4,* and Nurten Akgün 51 Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54770,Pakistan; ahmad.rashid@umt.edu.pk2 School of Engineering, University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada3 Independent Consultant and Researcher, Edinburgh EH9 3DN, UK; sohel_j_ahmed@yahoo.co.uk4 Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Kore University of Enna, Cittadella Universitaria, 94100 Enna, Italy5 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Bursa Technical University,16330 Bursa, Turkey; nurten.akgun@btu.edu.tr* Correspondence: Kh.Nahiduzzaman@ubc.ca (K.M.N.); tiziana.campisi@unikore.it (T.C.)Received: 15 September 2020; Accepted: 27 October 2020; Published: 31 October 2020Abstract: The limited availability of public transportation in Saudi Arabia leads to an increaseddemand for private vehicles. An increase in using private cars does not meet the global sustainabilitygoals, e.g., reducing energy consumption and improving the air quality. Road users should beencouraged to use sustainable mobility modes, particularly public transportation, equally accessibleto both men and women However, women’s mobility has been somewhat limited and challenged inspatio-temporal terms, and partly due to socio-cultural barriers. This study attempts to understandthe gender experience of a sample of public transport users and consider their aspirations andneeds into daily mobility. A survey campaign (structured interviews and online questionnaires) waslaunched in the Dammam Metropolitan Region (DMR), taking four different types of respondents intoaccount. The results suggest a predominant preference for taxis for shopping and leisure activitiesdue to a poor public transport service, pivotally characterized by lim…
has type: Article
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0394948
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
publisher DOI: 10.3390/su12219068
rights: CC BY 4.0
rights URI: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
subject: public transportation
subject: gender-responsive design
subject: sustainable mobility
subject: gendered need
subject: Saudi Arabia
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76500