Stanford has a fascinating new study of gender disparities in public transportation use. In a nutshell, women are way likelier than men to use public transportation — and this disparity is greater among Asians and African Americans than other groups.

What's going on here? There seem to be a few things — including the fact that women tend to use public transportation a lot when they're caring for small children. And women with small children are more likely to use "trip chaining" — in other words, taking a trip with multiple destinations, like shopping and family errands — than men or childless women. In general, women are much more dependent on public transit than men, especially when they're trying to do a lot of errands related to child care. We don't think of cuts to public transit as a gender equity issue... but maybe we should. [Stanford]