Gender Responsiveness in Public Transit: Evidence from the 2017 US National Household Travel Survey

Abstract

Public transportation plays an important role in urban sustainability. To increase public transit usage, it is essential to understand the underlying reasons that discourage people from using transit through the perspectives of different users. Drawing on the 2017 US National Household Travel Survey, this study aims to explore gender-sensitive factors in transit usage by sociodemographics and trip attributes for both men and women through a combination of descriptive analyses and econometric methods. Results show that, statistically speaking, significant factors for both women’s and men’s transit usage are similar, including being in a household with children, at an older age, with a high household income, car access, low-density residence, no heavy rail, travel for the purpose of maintenance or recreation, frequent daily trips, and short trip distance. The Chow test follows to further reveal that compared with trips made by men, trips by women are less likely to use transit when the women are 40 years old or more, with a high household income (>$100,000), with low residence density (i.e., <10,000 persons/mi2), or when recreation is the purpose of the trip. This research may assist policymakers, administrators, and responsible agencies to make better sustainable transport policies by refining gender-specific transit services in attracting both men and women to use public transit.