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Bogotá last year launched a public transit entity made up entirely of electric buses, with about half the drivers being women, a rarity in the male-dominated field. 

Bogotá last year launched a public transit entity made up entirely of electric buses, with about half the drivers being women, a rarity in the male-dominated field. 

Photographer: Nathalia Angarita/Bloomberg
CityLab
Transportation

Colombia’s Women-Led Electric Bus Fleet Is Reshaping Bogotá’s Public Transit

The project is a bet that public investment can help change perceptions of mass transportation.

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At 15 years old and pregnant with her first child, Diana Ruiz started working on Bogotá’s buses selling peanuts and candy, a sort of entry-level role in the city’s hardscrabble informal economy.

Fourteen years later she now drives a bus for the city’s public bus company La Rolita, an all-electric fleet with a focus on gender equity that began operating last year. Created as part of Mayor Claudia Lopez’s development plan for the Colombian capital, the project is a bet that public investment can help shift perceptions of mass transportation.

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