[Urbanstudy] Gender and urban transit mapping

[Bascom Guffin]

Anant,

I would add one other alternative transport mode to your already very good list. This is off-duty company cabs, i.e., those designated to carry techies to specific company campuses. When off-duty or driving an empty vehicle to a pick-up spot, some of the drivers will pick up people on shared autorickshaw routes, and will generally charge the same as a shared auto would. The single afternoon I caught one of these cabs, we were all male passengers.

		Best,
		Bascom


________________________________

Bascom Guffin | PhD Candidate
University of California, Davis
bascom at bascomguffin.net

________________________________


On Nov 16, 2013, at 2:00 AM, urbanstudygroup-request at mail.sarai.net wrote:

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>   1. Gender and urban transit mapping (anant maringanti)
>   2. Re: Gender and urban transit mapping (Raheema Begum)
> 
> From: anant maringanti <anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk>
> Subject: [Urbanstudy] Gender and urban transit mapping
> Date: November 15, 2013 4:43:06 PM GMT+08:00
> To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net
> 
> 
> Dear all, 
> 
> 
> Some of you may recall my earlier post on Do Din event. http://www.do-din.org
> 
> As we are preparing for the event, we are slowly building up resources and ideas for an engaging set of conversations. I am posting a note here on how one of the tracks is developing in the hope that others may point to resources and ideas that could be useful for Do Din participants. 
> In preparation for the mobility and safety track in the event, Harsha Devulapally, my colleague has been working on a bus frequency map for Hyderabad city. This map revealed some surprising and some unsurprising insights. The map clearly shows that the APSRTC network leaves large gaps in the city in terms of access to public transit. So, how do people move about in these areas? 
> 
> It appears that it is through shared autorickshaws. This was not surprising in itself. But, what was surprising is that there are no less than 85 shared autorickshaw routes in Hyderabad. This is crowdsourced data and it could be bigger than this. This is of course only one of the things that has occupied the gaps. There are apparently many more things going on: mini buses, private two wheelers, four  wheelers and even three wheelers. And then there are drivers of private cars who offer shared rides to commuters to make some extra money. (This is actually an area that seems to be a matter of serious concern for women commuters in the city because negotiating with paratransit/informal transit providers is increasingly being perceived as a challenging task in more ways than one). 
> 
> This is leading us to think in several new directions in terms of data and maps and visualizations that could be very useful for research, policy advocacy and public education.
> 
> 1) First issue that is coming up is that mobility challenges are differently experienced by different groups of people. So, a bus frequency map that looks very great to a 30 year old male 9-5 office worker could look very bleak to a 30 year old female paramedic, whose commute timings and patterns are very different. 
> 
> 2) When we start taking into account different points of view to generate multiple maps, we are actually having to take into account challenges of various kinds: location with respect to bus stops - of say womens hostels; of bus accessibility to disabled people and so on. It is easy to say that we have to listen carefully to the experiences of different people to figure out how to amplify and make visible their concerns. But then this is not and cannot be a one way street. Interest groups  ought to own the mapping work and use them on their own. This can only happen if we can stage ongoing conversations around this kind of data and visualizations as a political process by itself. Some of these have to do with locations of urban infrastructures and services. (For example, a friend has just pointed out that middle class families appear to be spending a lot of money and time on school commute while lower middle class and poorer families are relying on neighborhood schools.)
> 
> 3) Finally, there is a whole set of issues around how different kinds of paratransit / informal transits are being regulated. 
> 
> Hopefully some of these challenging questions will now become possible to articulate and engage in at Do Din.
> 
> 
> anant
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From: Raheema Begum <theunderscoredhood at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Urbanstudy] Gender and urban transit mapping
> Date: November 15, 2013 8:42:53 PM GMT+08:00
> To: anant maringanti <anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk>
> Cc: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net
> 
> 
> Congratulations! I signed up for the volunteering.Looking forward.
> 
> Amal.
> 
> On 11/15/13, anant maringanti <anant_umn at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>> Dear all,
>> Some of you may recall my earlier post on Do Din event.
>> http://www.do-din.org
>> 
>> As we are preparing for the event, we are slowly building up resources and
>> ideas for an engaging set of conversations. I am posting a note here on how
>> one of the tracks is developing in the hope that others may point to
>> resources and ideas that could be useful for Do Din participants.
>> In preparation for the mobility and safety track in the event, Harsha
>> Devulapally, my colleague has been working on a bus frequency map for
>> Hyderabad city. This map revealed some surprising and some unsurprising
>> insights. The map clearly shows that the APSRTC network leaves large gaps
>> in the city in terms of access to public transit. So, how do people move
>> about in these areas?
>> It appears that it is through shared autorickshaws. This was not surprising
>> in itself. But, what was surprising is that there are no less than 85
>> shared autorickshaw routes in Hyderabad. This is crowdsourced data and it
>> could be bigger than this. This is of course only one of the things that
>> has occupied the gaps. There are apparently many more things going on: mini
>> buses, private two wheelers, four wheelers and even three wheelers. And
>> then there are drivers of private cars who offer shared rides to commuters
>> to make some extra money. (This is actually an area that seems to be a
>> matter of serious concern for women commuters in the city because
>> negotiating with paratransit/informal transit providers is increasingly
>> being perceived as a challenging task in more ways than one).
>> This is leading us to think in several new directions in terms of data and
>> maps and visualizations that could be very useful for research, policy
>> advocacy and public education.1) First issue that is coming up is that
>> mobility challenges are differently experienced by different groups of
>> people. So, a bus frequency map that looks very great to a 30 year old male
>> 9-5 office worker could look very bleak to a 30 year old female paramedic,
>> whose commute timings and patterns are very different.
>> 
>> 2) When we start taking into account different points of view to generate
>> multiple maps, we are actually having to take into account challenges of
>> various kinds: location with respect to bus stops - of say womens hostels;
>> of bus accessibility to disabled people and so on. It is easy to say that
>> we have to listen carefully to the experiences of different people to
>> figure out how to amplify and make visible their concerns. But then this is
>> not and cannot be a one way street. Interest groups  ought to own the
>> mapping work and use them on their own. This can only happen if we can
>> stage ongoing conversations around this kind of data and visualizations as
>> a political process by itself. Some of these have to do with locations of
>> urban infrastructures and services. (For example, a friend has just pointed
>> out that middle class families appear to be spending a lot of money and
>> time on school commute while lower middle class and poorer families are
>> relying on neighborhood schools.)
>> 
>> 3) Finally, there is a whole set of issues around how different kinds of
>> paratransit / informal transits are being regulated.
>> 
>> Hopefully some of these challenging questions will now become possible to
>> articulate and engage in at Do Din.
>> 
>> 
>> anant
>> 
> 
> 
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