Women Passengers can have Pink Taxi service at Bengaluru Airport
Photo Courtesy: BIAL twitter
Safety of women travellers have always been a main subject of discussions in the media recently. To ensure safe and hassle-free journey for women travellers, the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) has launched a fleet of ten ‘women only’ cabs, in association with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL).
As Bengaluru airport is at a fair distance away from the main city, it is expected that the service will be helpful to women travellers, especially at night.
The Pink Cabs will be a 24 hour service from the airport. The cabs will be equipped with GPRS surveillance facilities as well as an emergency SOS button. The female drivers are being hired from the surrounding areas of the airport to make the service self-sustainable. As an additional safety measure, the women drivers are given training in self-defence tactics and multi-linguistic abilities.
The fare is fixed at Rs 21.50 per km during the day and Rs 23.50 per km during the night. These rates are on par with any other cab services in the city.
“This concept has been implemented to provide a safe and secure mode of transport for women travellers from the Airport, while simultaneously creating opportunities for women drivers to be self-employed and empowered,” said Kumar Pushkar, Managing Director, KSTDC.
Bengaluru Airport tweeted that they took the safety and security of the flyers seriously and said travelling could not get any safer.
“We, at the BLR Airport, take the safety and security of all our flyers seriously. We decided to do our bit for our female travelers with our all-women taxi service, Pink Taxi. We will pick you up and drop you till your doorstep. Traveling could not get any safer!”tweeted Bengaluru Airport, after flagging off the first cab.
In July 2018, Women and Child Development Minister, Maneka Gandhi came down heavily on the Karnataka government for not doing enough to ensure the safety of women in the state. This was after reports emerged where a woman passenger in Bengaluru was harassed by a driver attached to a well-known cab aggregator after she refused to cancel her trip.
All the stakeholders have welcomed the move, especially women passengers who travel at nights.