More women cabbies take the wheel, demand grows

BENGALURU: Lubaina Kapasi takes theatre classes and has to travel to her workplace thrice a week. For the past six months, she has been depending on women chauffeurs to ferry her. “I have never had a bad experience with male drivers but ever since I heard of Taxshe and started using the women cabbies-oncall service, my life has become much simpler. I can feed my baby inside the cab and while I am teaching the kids, the chauffeur takes good care of my child,“ says the mother.
Even Sreeranjini GS, who runs a toy store in Seshadripuram, is a beneficiary of the service. Both her sons are now driven to school by a woman. “Women drivers understand the needs of my kids. They are extremely professional and adept at handling tough situations on the road. My boys share a special bond with them,“ she said The demand for women chauffeurs has seen a surge in the past few months. So has the number of women breaking the glass ceiling to enter the male-dominated occupation.
Leading automobile giant Maruti Suzuki, which has been offering driving lessons to women, said Ben galuru has a higher rate of women getting into the profession and being placed as chauffeurs with companies or families. In 2014, it trained 64 women in Bengaluru as compared to 16 in Delhi and 25 in Mumbai.
The company started a special initiative to train the underprivileged -both men and women -as drivers in June 2015. It has already trained 3,000 women across the country; the first batch of 16 women cabbies in Bengaluru has been placed.
Taxshe founder Vandana Suri is planning to extend operations to Pune and Hyderabad and hopes to have 100 women cabbies on board. To avail the service, customers can either dial the call centre number or do the booking online.
Another woman-only taxi service Womencabs.com mainly caters to companies.It started in April 2015 with 25 women on board and has expanded to 34. “Initially , many companies signed up to hire our cabs to ferry their employees, both men and women. But the demand has been lesser than we expected. Not all companies show confidence in women drivers. But those who are using the service are very satisfied. Our main intention is empower women and dispel the notion about women drivers in society , and we will continue to strive for that,“ said Shailendra Singh, partner, Womencabs.com.