ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—According to a local paper, The Dawn, the Northwest Frontier Province Social Welfare and Women’s Development Department has added a public bus route exclusively for women commuters through the main part of the city of Peshawar. The service, which started 16 Dec., appears to be an effort to improve public transportation options for women.
Buses and vans speeding through busy Pakistani cities jam-packed with commuters is a common site. For the majority of Pakistani working class people these buses and vans are the main way to get around.
Men crowd into the back, and women typically sit up front. But when the vans and buses are overloaded, women don’t have any special privileges and must stand or sit in the crowded inner part of the vehicle with the men, sometimes at risk of harassment.
The new bus service proposed for women in Peshawar will be run on a trial basis to see how the public responds. Each bus will have a male driver (because there are no women currently trained as drivers of heavy vehicles), a female conductor, and a female police officer on board.
