THE POTENTIAL CHALLENGES OF THE SAUDI ARABIA TRANSPORT SYSTEM WHEN THE BAN ON WOMEN DRIVING IS LIFTED (RIYADH AS A CASE STUDY)

Abstract

Up until 2018 Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world that bans women from motor vehicles driving. The ban was officially lifted on 25 June 2018 as a part of the Saudi Vision 2030 reform programme that was led by the new government. This study investigates the implication of women driving on the current Saudi Arabian transport system through using its capital city of Riyadh as a case study. To answer the research question, a relevant literature about gender differences in travel behaviour with insight into Arab society in particular were reviewed, as well as their attitudes towards car driving and environmental concerns. In addition, quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted to further explore the potential impact of women driving through a series of general travel survey and semi-structured interviews. The study found that the current travel pattern for women differ from those of men in Saudi Arabia. In contrast to literature examples, the difference was not associated with where the women are in the trajectory of the economic activity participation. This difference was clearly seen on the average travel distance, frequency, trip cost, and activity duration for the purpose of work or study as well as for shopping. For the future travel pattern, a significant proportion of women were found willing to drive with the expectation of some changes in their current travel pattern such as their trip frequency for the purpose of leisure and social activities. Most notably, there are cultural changes in women driving acceptance which were seen from the majority of participants. The finding from the high-level calculations of the current congestion level and accident rate expected an increase by almost one-third when women start driving to impact on where the business, shopping, leisure and social activities are located in Riyadh city. This concluded the need for more new policies and enforcement to enhance safety and regulate the environmental impact as well as the traffic condition. Finally, this is the only rigorously and widely enough collected source of evidence that supports lots of hypothesis about women driving and economic activity growth in Saudi Arabia.