 |
Table of Contents |
 |
|
|
India
Transportation Needs of Self-Employed Women — Sewa Bank
Background of the project
Lack of affordable transportation is an issue facing millions of poor, self-employed women working in the informal sector in India. Walking is the most common form of transport for the majority of these women, particularly for the many mobile female peddlers who spend their days hauling heavy head loads and handcarts. Because of the relatively high cost of paid private transportation, women are forced to limit their use of tempos (motorized rickshaws a little larger than auto-rickshaws), auto-rickshaws, and pedal rickshaws. In many situations, women cannot avail themselves of more affordable public transport because of their bulky, heavy loads.
To date, there has been little research into the transportation needs and options of self-employed women in the informal sector. This is an emerging issue for the Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank in Ahmedabad which has been addressing the credit and savings needs of over 1,250,000 women clients since 1972. An earlier study commissioned by Sewa Bank (My Daily Odyssey in 1998) recommended that further study be undertaken on the professional and personal transportation needs of Sewa Bank's clients. In light of this recommendation, the Asian Development Bank funded Sewa Bank to undertake a transportation needs assessment of its clients to better understand their transportation concerns and priorities, including the viability of extending credit to clients for the purchase of private vehicles.
Project Components
The objectives of the study were the following:
- to investigate the professional and personal transportation needs of selected Sewa Bank clients
- to document the constraints faced by poor women in the informal sector due to the lack of appropriate and affordable transportation
- to identify the transportation needs of selected clients not currently met by existing public transportation facilities
- to conduct a first-level market survey on the demand for owning vehicles, and on based this to prepare a basic cost benefit analysis to assess the impact of purchasing a vehicle on the net income levels of clients
Five client groups were selected on the basis of their high mobility and transportation needs: vegetable vendors, used clothes peddlers, head loaders/handcart pullers, rag pickers, and mobile vendors. Mobility is a critical issue for all self-employed women but more so for these groups for whom mobility takes a lot of time, physical effort, and money.
The study incorporated structured questionnaires as well as focus discussions with each trade group. In total, there were 105 female respondents in the study comprising 29 vegetable vendors, 24 used clothes peddlers, 25 head loaders/handcart pullers, 13 rag pickers, and 14 mobile vendors.
Outcomes of Project
Overview of the Trade Groups
The vegetable vendors had the highest transportation costs of all averaging 52% of the women's monthly incomes. Most arrive at the local wholesale market early in the morning by shared paid private transport or on public transport. Once they have purchased the vegetables to be sold that day, their choice is either to walk or hire paid private transport on their own. For those who buy vegetables by the sack (between 40-60 kilograms in weight), they also have the expense of paying handcart pullers to carry the vegetables to the available transport.
The used clothes peddlers had the second highest transportation costs averaging 37% of their monthly incomes. Typically, used clothes peddlers start out from their homes with a load of utensils or plastic ware that they exchange for clothes. Given the bulky loads they carry, the use of public transportation is not an option. They walk around in search of clients and over the course of the day gradually replace their loads of utensils or plastic ware with a heavier load of clothes. Their normal pattern is to collect clothes 4 days a week and spend 2 days mending, washing, and ironing them to be ready for sale in the Sunday market. They hire auto-rickshaws or tempos to get there. Additional transportation costs include the purchase of exchangeable goods two to three times a month.
On average, the rag pickers in the sample used 33.3% of their monthly incomes on transportation costs. These women leave home early with empty sacks, either walking or taking public transport to their predetermined areas. Once they have collected enough discarded paper, plastic, glass, or metal articles, they walk or take a pedal rickshaw to the godowns where their loads are sorted and sold. The cost of the rickshaw is negotiated according to distance and load. Some women make two such rounds a day: one in the early morning and one in the afternoon.
The mobile vendors spent on average 26% of their monthly incomes on transportation. The range of goods sold door-to-door by these women included food products, clothes, cosmetics, and jewelry. Consequently, their transportation needs and costs varied considerably depending on the goods they sold, the distance from their homes to the neighborhoods they targeted, and the incomes they earned. Overall, 64% of the women in this sample either walked or used a combination of walking and paid private transport. While the vegetable vendors spent more of their monthly incomes on transportation costs, the physical drudgery of the mobile vendors was higher. This was especially the case with women who carry toplas (head loads) door-to-door.
The head loaders/handcart pullers had the lowest transportation costs of the sample, averaging 11% of their monthly incomes. Most of these women either walk or catch public transport to the wholesale market where they work carrying vegetables and other goods within the market and in the nearby vicinity. For most, the choice is either to carry goods on their heads or to hire handcarts on an hourly basis at a cost of Rs.5. Only a few of these women own handcarts.
The Demand for Owning a Form of Transport among Self-Employed Women
Study findings revealed that transportation is clearly an emerging issue for the credit sector with self-employed women reporting an unmet demand for credit to purchase their own forms of transport. Of the total sample, 69.5% percent reported that they would like to acquire their own facility with 45% stating that they would be prepared to seek credit to do so. (The remaining 55% said that they had more pressing credit needs such as housing and working capital.) In terms of the five trade groups, 100% of the rag pickers, 86% of the mobile vendors, 83% of the used clothes vendors, 66% of the vegetable vendors, and 36% of the head loaders said that they would like their own form of transport. Reasons given included the following:
- a significant reduction in time spent on transportation
- a reduction in transportation costs (see below)
- an increase in productivity
- that existing public transport options were unsuitable
- a reduction in physical work-related strain that would have a positive impact on their health
- a vehicle could be an important secondary source of income for the family
Cost Benefit Analysis and Future Directions
Cost benefit analyses done as part of the study endorsed the feasibility of many of these women acquiring private transportation facilities. The following three examples were provided.
Example 1: A handcart for Nanuben (used clothes peddler)
This example demonstrates how one woman's physical burden could be dramatically reduced for a cost of less than Rs.3 per day.
| Estimated cost |
Rs.2000 |
| Loan required |
Rs.2000 |
| Rate of interest |
17% p.a. |
| Term of repayment |
36 months |
| Monthly installment |
Rs.71.16 |
| Daily installment |
Less than Rs.3 |
Example 2: A pedal rickshaw for Kesarben (rag picker)
In this example, Kesarben would not only be able to significantly reduce her transportation costs (and physical burden) by the purchase of a pedal rickshaw, she could also use it to provide a source of income for her unemployed husband.
| Estimated cost |
Rs.3500 |
| Loan required |
Rs.3500 |
| Rate of interest |
17% p.a. |
| Term of repayment |
36 months |
| Monthly installment |
Rs.124.53 |
| Vehicle maintenance (per month) |
Rs.50 |
| Total monthly transport cost (proposed) |
Rs.174.53 |
| Current monthly transport costz |
Rs.600 |
Example 3: An auto-rickshaw for Abedaben (mobile vendor)
While in this example Abedaben would have to pay more than she currently does on transportation to cover the cost of an auto-rickshaw, she is confident that she would be able to divert the family's other commuting expenses of Rs.2000 per month towards the loan repayment. She also believes that her son would be able to earn more money as a rickshaw driver than he currently earns as a mechanic and hence could also contribute to the loan repayment.
| Estimated cost |
Rs.70,000 |
| Loan required |
Rs.70,000 |
| Rate of interest |
17% p.a. |
| Term of repayment |
60 months |
| Monthly installment |
Rs.1733.90 |
| Vehicle fuel and maintenance (per month) |
Rs.500 |
| Total monthly transport cost (proposed) |
Rs.2233.90 |
| Current monthly transport cost |
Rs.1000 |
 Back
Humana People to People | Next
Indonesia |
Topics 
Top of page