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The magic bus is pink
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Is the pink bus a solution to people’s attitude to women in public spaces? AYESHA MATTHAN feels that our approach must be more inclusive and open for women to travel freely without fear
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PHOTO: K. GOPINATHAN
ATTITUDE MUST CHANGE The interaction between sexes will further break down with such exercises
It’s in Dublin, Tokyo, Seoul, Mexico city, Mumbai, Italy, Jerusalem and in namma Bengalooru for almost two years now. In this city, it exists as a flash of pinkish-mauve on wheels tumbling down the road: the Women special bus
. If you peer closely, you notice that sometimes, there are only a few women travelling, sometimes men, sometimes you never see it for days and sometimes it is empty. The eye-catching women special bus operates on 14 routes within city limits, from 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.
At first, the pinkish-mauve colour paints many a colourful picture including a happy and safe travel option, a space provided by BMTC for women to call their own to access public spaces without trouble.
I board a near-empty 61A from the Majestic bus terminus to Chandra Layout. It picks up a few passengers en route. The driver, Ravi says: “The bus makes eight trips a day and there is only one bus per route. It is good for the ladies, especially during rush hour”. Malini, my sole co-passenger feels like the other women I meet en route: “Though it is my first time on this bus, I will not be able to wait an hour for it.” Ravi does feel that it will be good for the bus to run every 10 to 15 minutes.
Empty spaces
Lakshmi, another first-time commuter says: “Even at peak hour, I get a seat and we don’t have men harassing us, but I can’t wait for this bus.” The bus operates only till 8.30 p.m. and within city limits, cutting out a huge chunk of women travellers. BMTC’s Chief Traffic Manager (Operations) Dastagir Sharif feels the bus runs on all important routes and important times as well. He reveals the BMTC incurs a loss of Rs. 6 to Rs. 7 every km.
Hence, increasing its frequency is out of the question. Traveller Sindhu Desai observes that while this might be one step to overcome sexual harassment of women in the public domain, she feels Indians lack basic civic sense.
“The same people when they go abroad will observe all therules.” She, however, feels that this public segregation will perpetrate and reinforce violence against women. “It is a microcosm of what goes on in our homes, on the streets and offices.”
Sharif says: “This is one of the good facilities that we have provided to the weaker section of society. They are physically weaker and it was high time to brand this special bus.”
If women are looked at as the weaker section of society with an inherent need for physical separation and protection, then Janaki Nair, author of “The Promise of a Metropolis: Bangalore’s Twentieth Century”, feels that segregation can only be a short-term solution.
“Clearly, the pink bus is a trivialising gesture: both its pinkness and its infrequency are an indication that it is intended only as a token, more to isolate and stage the gender difference than to serve the purpose of integrating women in public spaces of the city.”
On the Majestic-J.P. Nagar route No. 2, commuter Rachana Marathe feels such a bus will not change attitudes and it is also infrequent, late and inconvenient.
“If the driver has to issue tickets, it will lose time and speed.” Marathe says: “Only education can cause change – and maybe cassettes played in buses about rules to behave will change attitudes.”
If genders are segregated on modes of public transport andeducational institutions, then interaction between the sexes will further break down.
Director, Centre for Women’s Development Studies in Delhi, Mary E. John believes that the women’s special is not an answer for sexual harassment. However, she points out that in a world that places women at a disadvantage, reserved seats/spaces is one way of responding to that situation. “I think most women do welcome it and men also are made to realise that women have a more difficult time in crowded situations.”
As Nair puts it: “Only the wider and sustained reclamation of public spaces by women during the day and night, and not increased surveillance or policing, will alter this scenario.”
Every time, when a wave of pink segregated spaces flashes by, think of the woman commuter, branded as the pink victim and segregated just like in Nidhi Tuli’s documentary of the Mumbai local “Ladies Special”, where women find a space and time to be themselves without fear.
Be part of the discussion
http://www.pukar.org.in/genderandspace/index.html
http://blog.blanknoise.org/2008/05/
bangalore-metropolitan-transport.html
Articles of segregated spaces worldwide
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/wellbeing/story/0,,2140977,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6623211.stm
http://www.newsweek.com/id/109564
http://dublin.wantedineurope.com/news/news.php?id_n=4194
http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/299298
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