Analysis of Usage Behavior and Perceived Experience of Female-priority Compartments in Shenzhen Metro

Abstract

[Objective] Public transportation is a crucial means for women to access urban public spaces. However, policies and designs that overlook gender differences have neglected the diverse needs that arise from these distinctions. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study on female-priority compartments within the metro system. It is aimed to analyze the usage behavior and perceived experiences of women in these designated compartments to enhance the overall commuting experience for women in public transportation. [Method] Taking Shenzhen Metro female-priority compartments as study case, a combination of behavioral annotation, questionnaire surveys, and semi-structured interviews is employed. Separate investigations are conducted for female and male passengers to analyze their behaviors and perceptions regarding the female-priority compartments. Behavioral annotation is used to statistically analyze the distribution of passenger number, gender and age within the female-priority compartments. Questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews are employed to analyze the current usage situation, passenger behaviors and attitudes toward female-priority compartments. Principal component analysis is utilized to analyze passengers perceived experiences with female-priority compartments. [Result & Conclusion] The necessity of establishing female-priority compartments is mainly reflected in meeting the specific needs of female passengers, providing humanistic care to enhance their comfort and convenience while commuting on the metro. The primary reason for the low service efficiency of female-priority compartments for female passengers is the absence of special facilities meeting their specific needs, resulting in an average satisfaction and perceived experience. The factors influencing female passengers′ satisfaction with female-priority compartments, ranked in descending order of factor weight, are: safety, comfort, convenience of stroller parking, ease of breastfeeding, crowdedness, air circulation, legibility and visibility of signs.

Keywords

• metro
• female-priority compartment
• usage behavior
• perceived experience