The idea of introducing so-called "pink cars" to Istanbul's subway and tram service has excited groups of women who are endorsing the single-sex transport in a city where travel in mass transit proves troublesome for many women.
According to media reports, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's transportation company recently conducted a survey among residents of the country's most populous city, asking if they want to see women-only cars introduced to the city's subway and trams.
Members of Young MÜSİAD, a branch of Turkey's Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (MÜSİAD), announced they supported the idea of women-only cars. Young MÜSİAD board member Mehtap Coşkun said mass transit in Istanbul, which carries hundreds of thousands of passengers every day, work well over their capacity and causes problems for women in particular. "Women cannot comfortably use mass transit vehicles during rush hour. They cannot find space and face unpleasant, immoral and inhumane situations," she said.
Seeking to skip the city's heavy traffic, commuters prefer mass transit despite its constant overcrowding. Women complain of harassment in packed buses, trams and subway services. Coşkun said they believed "pink cars" would receive better public reaction than "pink buses," which were earlier proposed by another group of activists, as it would only devote a section of vehicles to women rather than an entire vehicle. Coşkun said the municipality responded to their call for women-only cars by adding the matter to their plans for 2016 and 2017.
A global survey conducted two years ago found that women felt safer on single-sex transport. Several cities around the world has already introduced women-only transport with Tokyo becoming one of the first cities to introduce women-only cars on trains to stop women from being harassed in 2000. Mexico City and Jakarta also introduced it in the following years.
A group of activists had earlier launched a campaign for women-only buses on Istanbul's Metrobus transit system though their petition failed to garner attention.
