Quarterly Journals of Urban and Regional Development Planning

Challenges in Workplace Accessibility for Women Using Public Transportation in Medium-Sized Cities: A Case Study of Sanandaj

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Ghazaleh Ebrahimi 1
Shahab Kermanshahi 2
Ahmadreza Talebian 3

1 M. Sc. in Urban Management,, University of Tehran.

2 Department of Urban Planning, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran

3 Department of Transportation,, Isfahan University of Technology

10.22054/urdp.2026.89814.1751
Abstract
Women’s multiple social and family roles generate complex travel patterns, making employment accessibility within transport systems essential. This study investigates the challenges affecting employed women’s access to public transportation in mid-sized cities, using Sanandaj as a case study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five urban transportation managers and 30 employed women, comprising office workers and sellers, and analyzed through qualitative content analysis within the Push-Pull-Mooring (PPM) framework. Findings indicate that fleet inefficiency, unequal spatial and temporal service distribution, poor hygiene, and security concerns are push factors distancing women from public transportation. Mooring factors vary substantially by occupational and socioeconomic position. Office workers tend to rely on private cars because of stabilizing conditions, including car ownership, workplace parking, access to ring-road routes, and the need for trip chaining. By contrast, sellers, constrained by low incomes and long, split-shift working hours, frequently depend on informal private transport. On the pull dimension, smart shared services are attractive, particularly to sellers, because they offer flexibility, lower costs, and perceived safety. The study concludes that improving women’s employment accessibility requires moving beyond quantitative fleet expansion toward integrating public transportation with flexible complementary services tailored to the economic and temporal constraints of user groups.

Keywords

workplace Accessibility
employed women
public transit
Push-Pull_mooring framework
smart shared mobility
Subjects
Quarterly Journals of Urban and Regional Development Planning

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 14 September 2026

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