Gender-Inclusive Public Transportation System: A Global Trend

Gender-inclusive public transport has been the focus of scholars because of the growing significance of equitable mobility, accessibility, personal safety, social inclusion, and sustainable urban development. However, this body of literature is scattered among different disciplines, and a systematic study of its intellectual development, thematic organisation, geographical works, and international cooperative relationships is required. This study systematically conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to build a map of the knowledge and development process of gender-inclusive and gender-responsive research related to public transportation from 2016 to August 2026. Bibliographic records were retrieved from the Scopus database, where an advanced search with the words, "Gender-Inclusive" OR "Gender-responsive" at the title level was performed. Through a systematic screening and refinement process, 762 publications were retained for further analysis. Annual publication growth, citation counts, co-occurrence of keywords, geographical contribution, and country-level co-authorship networks were analysed using Scopus Analyser, OpenRefine, and VOSviewer. This shows a substantial rise in the number of publications, from 16 in 2016 to 137 in 2025 and 134 from January to August 2026. The United States was the biggest contributor (209 publications, 2,756 citations, and total co-authorship link strength of 123). The most recurring keyword was "gender-responsive" (136), and gender had the highest total link strength (183), indicating its primary place in the knowledge network. In summary, the results reveal a rapidly expanding, multidisciplinary, and geographically uneven research landscape, highlighting the potential for improving international collaboration, novel research areas, and developing more integrated, gender-responsive, equitable, and sustainable public transportation systems.

Gender-inclusive transportation; Gender-responsive transportation; Public transportation; Gender equality; Sustainable mobility

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