Europe Tries to Make Women’s Travel Routes Feel Safer

Across Europe, a growing body of research is revealing a hidden barrier to travel: women who avoid certain streets, stations and entire journeys because routes feel unsafe, particularly after dark.

Fear in Transit Becomes a Policy Issue

Concerns about women’s safety in public space are increasingly shaping Europe’s transport agenda. Surveys compiled for recent United Nations and European Union reports show that women across all regions are consistently less likely than men to feel safe walking alone at night, even where overall crime is relatively low. This perception gap is now being recognised as a direct brake on women’s mobility, employment options and access to education and leisure.

An extended progress report on the Sustainable Development Goals released in 2026 highlights that, worldwide, the share of women who feel safe walking alone after dark trails men’s by more than 10 percentage points on average. Europe and North America record some of the highest overall safety perceptions, yet the gender gap remains clear. Analysts say this means that for many women, choices about whether to walk, cycle or use late-night public transport are constrained long before they become crime statistics.

Within the European Union, this concern has translated into formal policy guidance. A resolution adopted by the European Parliament in October 2023 on making transport work for women urged member states to redesign networks with gender-sensitive planning, stressing that unsafe underpasses, poorly lit footbridges and isolated stations can turn routine journeys into sources of anxiety. The document called for measures such as safer cycling routes, traffic-calming schemes and more flexible bus stops at night so women can disembark closer to their destinations.

Advocacy groups argue that treating perceived insecurity as a measurable access barrier marks a shift in how transport is evaluated. Instead of focusing solely on speed and efficiency, planners are being pushed to consider whether the “fastest” route is one that half the population is reluctant to use after a certain hour.

Cities Test New Routing Tools and Night Transport

Against this backdrop, a wave of pilot projects across European cities is attempting to translate safety concerns into concrete route options. Technology developers backed by European funds and city grants are testing navigation tools that steer users along streets judged to be better lit, more populated or otherwise safer, even if these paths are longer than the standard fastest route suggested by mainstream mapping apps.

One recently publicised project supported by the European Union and the city of Berlin is trialling an app that scores streets based on lighting, surrounding land use and observed foot traffic. Early descriptions indicate that the tool prioritises well-lit, busier arteries over dim back alleys when suggesting ways home at night, reflecting research that many women already practice informal “defensive routing” by avoiding shortcuts that feel risky.

Other cities are focusing on late-night public transport. Municipalities in Germany and several Nordic and Central European countries have extended “request stops” on buses, allowing passengers to ask drivers to stop between official stops after a certain hour, so that women do not have to walk long distances through deserted areas. In parts of Germany, local governments have also experimented with subsidised night-time taxi vouchers aimed at women and young people, after perception surveys showed steep declines in how safe residents felt on the streets after dark.

Observers note that these initiatives remain patchy and often local in scale, but they mark a trend away from safety advice that focuses solely on individual behaviour. Instead, authorities are beginning to adjust the transport offer itself, providing practical alternatives when regular routes feel too risky.

Designing Streets With Women’s Safety in Mind

Beyond digital tools, European planners are revisiting the physical design of streets that connect major stations, attractions and residential districts. A high-resolution “walkability index” developed by researchers in 2025 assessed the pedestrian environment across multiple European cities, factoring in elements such as intersection density, nearby public transport, green space and street gradients. Although the index did not measure gendered safety directly, its authors noted that more walkable neighbourhoods with mixed land use and active ground-floor life tend to support perceptions of safety, especially for women.

Separately, urban safety specialists are looking at how lighting, sightlines and land use affect the risk of harassment or assault. Long, isolated underpasses, hidden staircases and vacant lots near stations are being scrutinised in cities including Paris, Warsaw and Barcelona. Some municipalities are replacing subways with at-grade crossings, trimming overgrown vegetation, and adding residential or commercial activity near key walking routes so that there are more “eyes on the street” at night.

Traffic-calming policies also play a role. A recent survey of European cities conducted through the Eurocities network found that lower urban speed limits have reduced road deaths and injuries in a significant majority of participating municipalities, without notable increases in congestion. While these measures are often justified in terms of collision risk, advocates point out that streets with slower traffic, shorter crossing distances and clearer pedestrian priority tend to feel less hostile, which can in turn make women more willing to walk or cycle after dark.

Researchers working on gender and cycling have observed that women’s participation in urban cycling rises in cities where protected lanes and calmer traffic are common. In several European capitals, investments in continuous, well-lit cycle networks are now being framed not only as climate or health measures but as tools to narrow gender gaps in mobility.

Harassment, High-Profile Crimes and Public Pressure

Progress on safer routes is also being driven by public reaction to harassment and headline-making crimes. Studies cited by academics and international agencies suggest that a very high share of women worldwide have altered their routes at some point to avoid harassment or assault. In practice, that can mean walking longer distances along main roads, paying for taxis instead of using late buses, or declining night shifts and social events altogether.

In the Netherlands, the 2025 killing of a young woman cycling home at night from Amsterdam drew widespread attention to how routine trips can turn deadly. According to Dutch and international media coverage, nationwide protest rides were organised in at least 19 cities in early 2026, with participants deliberately traversing routes perceived as unsafe to challenge the idea that women should simply adapt their behaviour. The events amplified calls for better-lit cycling paths, more continuous CCTV coverage on key routes and clearer accountability for improving safety conditions.

Similar episodes in other European countries, where sexual assaults have taken place on late-night trams, trains or quiet suburban streets, have led to renewed demands for staffed stations, functioning emergency call points and swifter responses to reports of harassment. Advocacy groups stress that the cumulative effect of catcalling, unwanted touching and stalking on the way to and from transport hubs can deter women from using entire corridors, limiting their willingness to commute, study or go out at night.

Campaigners argue that these are not isolated “women’s issues” but structural challenges that reduce the effective reach of public transport networks. When women avoid certain routes, the real coverage of a city’s system shrinks, undermining investments in rail and bus lines intended to support car-free travel.

From Experimental Apps to Mainstream Planning

As Europe looks ahead to new climate and mobility targets for the 2030s, integrating safety perceptions into everyday planning is emerging as a central test. Policy documents linked to the European Green Deal and the shift toward car-free city centres stress the need for walking, cycling and public transport to become the default modes for more people. Analysts warn that these goals will be difficult to reach if women continue to treat many routes as off limits after dark.

Specialists in urban data and artificial intelligence are working on ways to bring safety routing into mainstream navigation tools. Academic prototypes, such as systems that learn to choose streets with lower recorded crime while keeping detours relatively short, have shown that algorithms can balance safety and efficiency. The challenge now is to reconcile privacy and data protection rules with demand for real-time, location-based safety information that travellers can trust.

Meanwhile, national and local governments are being urged to collect more consistent data on harassment and fear in public space. Current monitoring often focuses on serious assaults, leaving street harassment or the simple act of avoiding a route unrecorded. Without better evidence, commentators say it remains difficult to measure whether new lighting schemes, night bus policies or safety-focused apps are actually narrowing the gap between how men and women experience the city after dark.

For the many women who already choose longer, better-lit routes or pay for alternative transport out of pocket, the hope is that Europe’s shift toward safer streets will eventually mean that the fastest route across town no longer feels like the most dangerous.