Councilor urges greater focus on women passengers

Ra'anana city councilor has urged Mayor Nahum Hofree to take greater account of women's needs.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Ra'anana city councilor and head of the women's council Dr. Idit Diamant has urged Mayor Nahum Hofree to take greater account of women's needs during the city's current discussions on improvements to the public transport system, reports www.local.co.il. Diamant said that despite the fact that 70 percent of public transport users were women and that many worked part-time, neither bus routes nor schedules reflected this, and left them with few options for getting around the city by public transport. According to the report, Diamant said that targeted consideration had to be applied to every planning field, including transport. "When the city is working on a master plan for transport, it should consider the different needs of different sectors of the population, and, among other things, the different needs men and women have for public transport," she said. Diamant said that women passengers needed to collect children from kindergartens and schools at lunchtimes, but the bus schedules offered increased services only at 5 or 6 pm, when full-time workers were returning home. She also said that many women were working around the city in areas not serviced by buses, and that if they did not have cars of their own they had no public transport options. She said her committee was currently working on a shuttle service for areas without buses, and added that such a service would have an "economic value" as it would enable women to increase their participation in the workforce. No response was reported from the mayor.