Just 8% of transport professionals in the UK feel confident identifying ways to improve safety for women and girls, despite 61% recognising the specific risks they face on the network.
This is the key finding of the Women’s Safety Baseline Survey, the largest of its kind focused on practitioners rather than passengers. It gathered 737 responses from workers across every mode and the wider built environment.
Training and guidance remain scarce
Almost three-quarters (74%) of those surveyed have never received any training or guidance related to violence against women and girls. When tested on eight established UK and international design and policy resources, including toolkits by the Greater London Authority, Royal Town Planning Institute and West Yorkshire Combined Authority, less than 4% had used any of them, and fewer than 22% were aware of these materials.
Personal responsibility exceeds organisational support
Seventy-one per cent of respondents say that women’s safety is part of their professional responsibility. However, only 18% believe their employer treats it as a clear priority. This shows a 53-point gap between individual commitment and institutional mandate.
The survey also found limited data collection on safety issues broken down by gender, age or ethnicity. Only 12% say their organisation regularly collects and uses such data, while 36% do not know whether this data is collected at all.
Leadership matters more than funding
Respondents identified strong leadership commitment as the most important factor for improving women’s safety (41%), well ahead of additional funding (16%). Staff awareness and understanding were seen as the main barrier (63%), followed by funding (53%) and heavy workloads (50%). Cultural and societal attitudes were considered less of a barrier (42%).
These findings suggest that many barriers can be addressed directly by transport operators, councils or government departments without waiting for wider social changes.
Practical steps from the sector
Practitioners highlighted several priorities in open responses, including the “last-metre” environment around bus stops, station exits, subways and car parks. This area is consistently identified as the weakest and least well designed part of a journey.
A visible staff presence was frequently mentioned as an effective deterrent. Many warned against further staff cuts affecting safety. There were also calls for behaviour-change programmes targeting perpetrators rather than relying on women’s vigilance. Suggestions included bystander training and public campaigns aimed at men.
Consistent reporting and recording across operators, modes and police forces were also seen as essential to prioritising investments. Respondents want safety requirements to become mandatory in design and business cases, comparable to health and safety standards.
They also supported a national or Department for Transport-led framework to set standard expectations across all modes and local authorities, so safety provisions are consistent regardless of location.
How professionals want to learn
To reach practitioners, respondents favoured online webinars (70%), case studies and best-practice examples (69%) and online toolkits (66%).
Next steps for Women in Transport
The survey is part of ongoing research by Women in Transport, delivered in partnership with WSP. It forms the evidence base for a forthcoming White Paper outlining practical steps for transport organisations, including sector case studies and government recommendations.
Following publication, phase two will involve sector roundtables and focus groups to explore the lived experiences of disabled, LGBT+ and minority-ethnic transport professionals, who were not separately analysed in this survey.
Women in Transport thanks the volunteers who led the project, including Jade Neville (Chair) and Susan Leadbetter (Vice Chair), for their role in advancing this programme.
