Users of the mobile app of the popular taxi aggregator service Ola in Chennai were given a preview of its upcoming Ola Pink service, which will allow woman passengers to avail of taxis driven by woman drivers.
More details about the Pink service are not available readily, though the company’s media relations team said the service was in a beta testing stage in Bengaluru. It seems to be one of the many security measures that Ola as well as other services are trying to provide in the backdrop of the rape of a woman passenger in an Uber cab in New Delhi in December last year.
Only last week, Ola, in a press release, had listed the various security measures the company had put in place for the safety of its passengers. It said it had introduced an ‘SOS’ button on its mobile app, was in the process of installing a secondary GPS tracking device on all the taxis using its service and had also employed the services of a third-party agency to carry out background checks on the drivers using its services to find customers.
The big challenge for taxi services, in the scenario, is in finding women drivers. V. Balakrishnan, who runs ‘Welcome Call Taxi,’ said his company tried to train women drivers last year. “It did not quite work out as well as we thought it would. The women wanted to work regular day time jobs, but the peak hours of our business happened to be uncomfortable timings for them. Also, there is no way to ensure they would ferry only female passengers.”
