Metro - File #: 2025-0383

• File #: 2025-0383
• Type: Informational Report
• Status: Agenda Ready
• File created: 5/5/2025
• In control: Executive Management Committee
• On agenda: 6/18/2025
• Title: RECEIVE AND FILE a status report on the Gender Action Plan (GAP) strategies.
• Sponsors: Board of Directors - Regular Board Meeting
• Indexes: 7th Street/Metro Center Station, Accessibility, Alignment, Audit, Barriers (Roads), Bus Acquisitions, Children, Fare Zone, First/Last Mile, Gender, Gender Action Plan, GoPass, Informational Report, Law enforcement, Low-Income Fare is Easy (LIFE), Metro Commute Services, Metro Rail A Line, Metro Rail B Line, Metro Rail D Line, Metro Rail E Line, Off peak periods, Partnerships, Policy, Prevention, Program, Race, Ridership, Safety, Safety and security, Security, Surveys, System safety, Transfers, Transit System, Travel patterns, Travel time, Vehicle design, Visibility, Women & Girls Governing Council, Zoning

Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
JUNE 18, 2025

Subject
SUBJECT: GENDER ACTION PLAN UPDATE

Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE

Heading
RECOMMENDATION

Title
RECEIVE AND FILE a status report on the Gender Action Plan (GAP) strategies.

Issue
ISSUE

This report updates the progress of Metro's Gender Action Plan (GAP), which outlines short-to-medium term strategies (one-to-three-year implementation timeframe). Adopted by the Metro Board of Directors in October 2022, the GAP was developed in response to the 2019 Understanding How Women Travel (UHWT) study. It reflects Metro's ongoing commitment to creating an equitable and safe transit system that addresses women's specific mobility needs.

Background
BACKGROUND

In 2019, Metro released the UHWT study, a first-of-its-kind report that provided foundational insights into the unique challenges women face when using public transit and how these tradeoffs shape their experience on Metro's system. As an early initiative of Metro's Women and Girls Governing Council (WGGC), the study explored women's travel patterns, pinpointing key areas for improvement and demonstrating Metro's commitment to enhancing their transit experience in LA County.
The study identified numerous barriers women face on the Metro system, particularly related to safety, comfort, affordability, and service design, and revealed the daily choices that women make to use transit.
Key findings from the UHWT study included:
* Safety concerns, including lighting, harassment, and the lack of non-law enforcement staff presence, especially during off-peak hours.
* The challenges of caregiving travel, such as navigating transit with children, strollers, and belongings.
* Financial strain, with women making short but multiple trips during midday, leading to longer wait times and more often paying for these short trips.
* A lack of real-time information and service challenges that disproportionately affect household-serving trips: errands, chi...