Pink Bus Project
Pink Bus Project is the unique project of SEEW in which the driver, passengers and conductor all will be women . The bus is unique because it has been colored pink to make it recognizable bus for women and since it’s the women only bus which is an uniqueness in itself. The pink bus is facilitating the safe travel of women and girls in Kathmandu valley and has been acting as an opportunity to build social norms around making these public spaces more secure for women.
SEEW Nepal and SAFECITY India did a joint study on documenting sexual harassment and abuse in public spaces in and around Kathmandu. The research proved that women were mentally physically and emotionally affected which had an impact on their wellbeing. The data was like this:
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Physical abuse ie. Groping, touching, rape, etc |
72% |
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Verbal abuse ie. Commenting |
31% |
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Non verbal ie. Staring and whistling |
21% |
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Sexual violence by a known member |
29 cases |
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Chain snatching & robbery |
6 cases |
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Taking pictures without permission |
22 cases |
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Cases on public bus/micro bus / tempo |
131 cases |
The country is in transitional stage and the Justice system is very slow and complicated .We don't have Fast track court. Even if a crime like rape happens the justice to the victim and punishment to the perpetrators will be very slow. Therefore interim solution is women only transport.
Pink Bus is a campaign in Nepal to enable women and girls to go about their daily life with dignity and safety. The Pink Bus project is buses driven by women, for women.
Women who are harassed everyday have low self esteem and are confidence less; to empower women we must make them confident first, and let them travel safely. It's not a segregation rather it's a campaign for safety and security of women who are in need for such safe transportation system. SEEW launched it's first bus for service on 8th March,2015.Now the bus is run by a male driver for a time being because we could not find lady driver . We are still looking for Lady drivers and conductors for the bus. We have further plans of extending this service to the chakra path-this is a round route around Kathmandu valley which will benefit thousands of women everyday who use public transport. This initiative will deprive sex starved males from fondling and touching females unnecessarily and free the females of the psychological trauma of such embarrassments and harassment. In future, Also women with less education, skills and access to resources will be benefitted economically when we train them as drivers & conductors and this transport industry can be change and will be improved dramatically for the betterment of society. The main objective of the Pink Bus are:
Ø Harassment free public transport
Ø Empowering women Economically
Ø Utilization of women for women's cause
Ø Comfortable/Safe ride for women from home to work and vice versa