Women-only taxis launched in the city keeping in mind the safety of women commuters.
By Rudrankar Raha
Bengaluru, Jan. 23, 2019: The Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), in collaboration with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), has launched on Jan. 7 a new cab service by women and for women, to transport commuters of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
“This is the first time in India an idea like this has been conceived. The Go Pink Cabs taxi service will carry a fleet of 10 cars for now. The idea is to see how it works and launch these taxis in separate phases. Later on, we plan to launch 50 cars. The primary focus is on the issue of women safety,” said one of the officials at KSTDC.
These pink taxis are referred to as Go Pink Cabs. The women drivers who will run the show are required to be fluent and efficient in multiple languages. These drivers will have a good understanding of the routes of Bengaluru and will be trained in self-defence.
According to Go Pink Cabs website, these cabs will have Global Positioning System (GPS) facilities and an SOS button in case of emergency, to help keep track of the location of the cab.
The Go Pink taxis are launched in the wake of an increased sense of insecure environment among the women in the city, due to several incidents which were reported recently. Several cases of harassment and attacks on women have led to women losing faith in the other popular app-based cab aggregators.
“The idea of Go Pink Cabs took shape amidst daily media reports of atrocities on women and senior citizens traveling in public transport and cabs. The woes faced by those who have to shell out exorbitant charges and suffer unruly behaviour from auto drivers were an important factor,” wrote Saraswathamma, Co-founder, Go Pink Cabs on its official website.
When passengers were asked, a lot of commuters who use different cab services were unaware of the Go Pink Cabs – as it is not easily located yet at the airport.
