New all-woman taxi service could ensure women’s safety

By The Desk | November 26, 2007 | News | 3 comments

KHALEEJ TIMES, MUMBAI : If you are a woman, flying into Mumbai at night, and worried about taking that taxi being driven by a growling, uncouth male, fear not. A new, all-woman taxi service was launched here yesterday, to cater primarily to women travellers.

While many of the new private taxi fleets being operated in the city do have a sprinkling of women drivers, the new all-women taxi service kicked off yesterday, with a fleet ‘manned’ by 29 women drivers. The Priyadarshini Taxi service, with a pink-coloured cab fleet, will also have counters at the airport. According to Susiie Shah, president, Stree Shakti Kendra, the vehicles are owned by the drivers, and will help make them independent. The organisation intends to expand the fleet size to 150 over the next year. Besides catering to women travellers, the new service also plans to tie-up with BPOs and other organisations where women work late at night. Women employees would be comfortable being driven back home — or to work — in a vehicle driven by another woman.

While initially the service is being limited to Mumbai, it will gradually be extended to other parts of Maharashtra, enabling women clients to be ferried from the city to Pune or other places.

Recently, a woman BPO worker near Pune was raped and killed by two men including the taxi-driver, late at night. Similar instances of women employees being raped have been reported from other cities including Bangalore and Mumbai.

But the Priyadarshini Taxi service will also be available for male customers. The women drivers, who are also well-versed in English, have been trained not only in driving skills, but also in self-defence techniques. They are confident of taking on aggressive male cabbies of Mumbai.

The new service will be slightly more expensive than the usual, yellow-and-black metred taxis. The fare for the first kilometre will be Rs15, and Rs12 for every kilometre thereafter. The government has approved the fare structure for the new private taxi companies that have begun operations in the city.

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