Does free travel for women in public transportation make them more inclusive? - An investigation of gendered subsidy initiative in India

The rapid urbanization of developing countries has yet to translate into improved socio-economic status of women. Notably, female mobility within urban areas remains low and non-inclusive public spaces limit the pool of accessible opportunities. This paper studies whether public policies aimed at lowering gender-specific barriers to mobility in Delhi, the capital city of India, have translated into improved mobility outcomes for women. Starting in October 2019, the Delhi Government made all public bus rides free for women and augmented security by deploying over 11,000 marshalls on buses. First, we try to understand the gender differences in travel for Delhi from the Time Use in India Survey 2019. Subsequently, we used a difference-in-differences design over a matched sample of women from the same survey and showed that the policies changed women's travel behaviour. They were 6.4 percentage points more likely to commute after sunset and were less likely to co-travel.