Urban mass transit, gender planning protocols and social sustainability – The case of Jakarta

Abstract

The discussion within a number of Global South cities is increasingly focused on the planning and implementation of large-scale urban mass transport systems. There is, however, a significant challenge of delivering such large investments in a manner to produce equity in the benefits across different urban spaces and across different social groupings. The transaction costs of urban survival and its associated urban mobility and their differences across gender and other social groups may work against the hypothesised distribution of benefits predicted from traditional individualistic, utility-maximising rational choice planning models. This may affect the social sustainability of such large-scale investments. There is a need for new methods and protocols in transport planning and management to ensure that such transport systems promote social sustainability. The mainstreaming of gender into the planning, financing, implementation, operation and management of such large-scale urban transport systems is a fundamental component for tackling the challenges facing the delivery of social sustainability. This paper will look at a case study of the Jabotabek Suburban Rail and Bus Rapid Transit systems in Jakarta as examples of large-scale mass transit investment. It will draw on survey research that highlights the gender differences in the use of this large urban transport system, gender differences in how the system interacts with geographies of opportunities and daily travel patterns, gender differences in the impact of the systems operation on passenger safety and security. It will highlight the need for new gender and user group protocols in the planning, implementation and management of urban mass-transit systems. It will provide some concrete examples of what measures would arise from such new planning protocols.