Planetizen Talks to UCLA Professor About Women’s Safety on Buses

PLANETIZEN: So imagine I'm a transportation planner, and I'mreading your interview right now on Planetizen. What would you urge meto do?

LOUKAITOU-SIDERIS: To incorporate women's voices into the planningprocess. I was asked to speak at a conference recently specifically onwomen's issues and transportation, and there were some womentransportation planners there who were saying, "Well, we have to lookonly to universal needs." I respectfully disagree, because there arespecific needs. Transportation planners really need to look at women'sfears in transportation settings and know that there are things thatthey can do to if not completely eliminate but reduce these fears.These solutions involve policy, design, policing, and outreach andeducation.

Of course, this costs money. But my work and the work of others hasshown that crime comes at hotspots: not every area is equally unsafe.Transit agencies do audits every year, and they know where thesehotspots are. So when we talk about limited resources, they couldconcentrate their resources on these areas.