Government to rethink future train and bus stations with focus on women's safety experiences

Catalonia's Department of Territory will conclude a project next week focused on improving accessibility and safety through public transport infrastructure.  

In the results of the department's most recent survey on sexual harassment, 57% of women reported having experienced it at some point while using public transport. The guide aims to respond to these statistics with infrastructure recommendations. 

“There’s a lot of room for improvement," said General Director of Transport and Mobility Susi López, noting that this is “especially true for the Rodalies network.”

Over the last two months, the department organized exploratory walks with groups of 10-15 women who use public transport regularly. The groups were tasked with identifying "critical points" with low visibility or safety concerns at seven bus and train stations across Catalonia. 

The project began on September 1 at Barcelona Sants train station and is scheduled to end on October 28 at the Tortosa bus station in southern Catalonia.

According to López, the goal of gathering data from these exploratory walks is to create a guide that will serve as a reference for future infrastructure projects in Catalonia.

She added that if any “essential” interventions are identified during this review process, the department will forward them to Renfe to include in the Rodalies Plan. Still, López said the goal “is not to analyze these specific stations,” but rather that the exploratory walks will lead to “a guide that can help fix many more stations.”

Lessons from Clot Station and Figueres 

The analysis of the Clot-Aragó Rodalies station in Barcelona, carried out on October 13, found that more lighting and better accessibility were needed.

Silvia Casorran, a member of the board of the Association for the Promotion of Public Transport (PTP) participated in the group that examined the station. She explained that improvements are also needed in signage, since “the new signs are very small and hard to see for users with visual impairments.”

Casorran expects that the ongoing renovations at Clot will improve the situation, recalling that years ago “there were no elevators or escalators, and lighting was very poor.” She hopes that the initiative led by the Department of Territory will “take into account the needs of all users, especially women, who are the main group of public transport users.” As López also noted, 60% of public transport users are women. 

In Figueres in northern Catalonia, the exploratory walk began at the Empordà Museum in the city center and ended at the bus station. During the walk, participants discussed places or urban features that made them feel unsafe. For example, when passing by a public restroom, they were asked whether they would use it.

Once at the bus station, participants noted that they wanted to see more signs with basic information about the city. “Not just tourist information,” they said, “but also for local people—for example, where the main public facilities like schools, the health center, or city hall are located.”

One of the most positively rated aspects of the station was that during opening hours, there are always staff selling tickets and a security guard present. “You know that if something happens, there’s someone you can ask for help,” a participant said.

However, another participant admitted that whenever possible, she chooses the train over the bus. “If there’s someone or a situation that makes you uncomfortable, on a train you can move to another carriage. On a bus, it’s much harder to get away—it feels more confined.”