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Category: Women / Road Transport / safety

Port Moresby's women-only buses look for an upgrade

Friday, 9 Dec 2016 14:55:39 | Eric Tlozek

The "Meri Seif" (Safe Women) buses in Port Moresby need to be replaced. (ABC News: Eric Tlozek)

A crowdfunding campaign has started to upgrade the women-only buses in Papua New Guinea's capital city of Port Moresby.

Ninety per cent of women on public transport in Port Moresby have reported being harassed, robbed or assaulted.

Audio: Listen to Eric Tlozek's story (The World Today)

In response to those figures the "safe women" bus service was started in 2014, with the donation of two old buses from Brisbane City Council and funding from Australia and UN Women — the United Nations gender equality agency.

But Bessie Maruia, who manages the Safe Public Transport Program for UN Women, said the buses are run down and have started to have mechanical problems.

She said one of the buses even had to be taken out of service for some time in order to be repaired.

"Most of the women depend on the bus for their movement in the city and that affected them," she said.

The agency has managed to get one new bus, but it still needs another one for them to be able to keep running the service and meet increasing demand.

So they have turned to the internet, and started a crowdfunding campaign to raise the $68,000 needed to buy a bus in PNG.

"Their contributions will go a long way in making it safe for a young girl to go to school," Ms Maruia said.

"Making it safe for mothers to go to market and even for working class women to access their workplace."

Women boarding the safe women bus in Port Moresby Photo: Ms Maruia says women depend on the buses to get around Port Moresby safely. (ABC News: Eric Tlozek)

Making the service sustainable

The Safe Public Transport Program will be due to end next year, so the managers of the bus service are trying to work out how to make the service sustainable.

That could include introducing bus fares, which most women said they would happily pay.

Lolo Niso, a TAFE teacher and a regular passenger, said bus fares would be a "slight problem" for some.

"But for the other working mothers I'm sure we will all be very happy to at least to keep the bus going," she said.

So far the crowdfunding campaign has raised $21,000.

Ms Maruia said it needed to succeed because there was no other way for them to buy a new bus.

"There's no plan B at the moment," she said.

"In terms of buying a new bus we're very dependent on the crowdfunding to help us get another bus on the road so it will also meet the demand right now."

A woman onboard the women only bus in Port Moresby Photo: Since being attacked on a bus, Vanessa Lita now only travels on the women-only bus in Port Moresby. (ABC News: Eric Tlozek)

'It's not safe for our women in Papua New Guinea'

Many women in Port Moresby have stories of being harassed, assaulted or robbed on the cities buses, known as public motor vehicles, or PMVs.

Vanessa Lita is a cleaner who travels by bus into the city every day.

"We always find it hard on the PMV bus because drunkards and raskols, they used to attack us."

She said she was too scared to use the public buses since being attacked by criminals, who are usually called raskols in PNG.

"Raskols attacked me and they got my bag and they put a knife on me. It's not good, it's sometimes like murder," she said.

"Sometimes we ladies we [have an] accident in the bus — they stab us and we have bruises on our hands and big deep cuts.

"It's not safe for our women in Papua New Guinea."

Since the attack Ms Lita said she only travels on the women's only bus service.

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