Pink revolution in urban transport: Can fare-free rides improve women’s empowerment? A case study of Delhi urban transport policy intervention

Pink revolution in urban transport: Can fare-free rides improve women’s empowerment? A case study of Delhi urban transport policy intervention | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Pink revolution in urban transport: Can fare-free rides improve women’s empowerment? A case study of Delhi urban transport policy intervention Dev Mani Sharma This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6454416/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Urban transport costs and safety concerns are frequent mobility barriers for women in the global south. These concerns discourage women’s social and economic participation in India. To address this, Delhi introduced the Pink Pass policy in 2019, offering fare-free and safer bus transport exclusively for women. Using the descriptive and normative approach, this research studies the influence of the Pink Pass policy on women's empowerment. The administrative and survey data analysis reveals a positive effect of the pink pass policy. The fare-free public transport increased women’s monthly household savings between 2.79€ to 4.29€. The improved bus safety measures increased women's urban transport mobility by over 40% in the intervention period. My findings could significantly contribute to policy-making and urban development. To the best of my knowledge, this article represents the first scholarly contribution to explaining the pink pass policy to the full extent. JEL classification: J08, J16, J18, J28, O18, R42, R48 Women empowerment Urban transport mobility public policy intervention fare-free urban transport transport policy India Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6454416","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":462503092,"identity":"30e422b0-e394-4094-af6a-9669d7b8ad21","order_by":0,"name":"Dev Mani Sharma","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA6klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDCCA0DM2ABiMR9AESRGC1sCyVp4DIhzF9/xHgPGnzvs8nXbz3x88KPiDoPujNyDBxhq6nBqkTxzxoCZ90yy5bYzuZsNe848YzC7kZdwgOEYG04tBjfSEpgZ25gNzA7kbpNmbDsM1JJjcICxgQe3lvvPEhh/ttUbmJ1/8/w3khYJPLYAw5a37bABUCUbM5IW3GEheSb5wGHetuNALc+MJXvOHOYxO/PG4EDCsQScWviOH2x8+LOtGuiw5IcfflQcljM7nmP84QOeEAOBA8gciLdx2zEKRsEoGAWjgBgAAHkEXADlXDgNAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Masaryk University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Dev","middleName":"Mani","lastName":"Sharma","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-15 11:38:22","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6454416/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6454416/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":89083046,"identity":"1bd0cea5-dfb4-45bd-b28c-ab2e19da7006","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-14 13:31:58","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":551714,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"PinkPassManuscriptTRANSPORTJOURNAL.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6454416/v1_covered_fa5182e2-6071-4eaf-a595-c7424bea11f3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Pink revolution in urban transport: Can fare-free rides improve women’s empowerment? 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