She Taxi' looks to Ola, Uber for survival

KOZHIKODE: ‘She Taxi’, a much celebrated initiative for women empowerment, is all set to weave a tie-up with commercial online taxi  service majors in the state like Uber and Ola, as majority of women drivers failed to secure sufficient income due to the failure of the supporting mechanism. ‘She Taxis’ in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode will be connected with Uber soon.

Gender advisor to Gender Park P.K Anandhi told DC that the initiative, a sister project of the Gender Park, has failed in the state as the campaign was not efficient enough and loans could not be repaid. “The project is now entirely under the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation to connect it with Uber”, she added.  Launched in 2016 under the Thantedam Gender Park project with much fanfare, the project failed to become a success.

However, indicating the collapse of services, the She Taxi website is permanently closed and the contact number provided connects to a privately-owned taxi service in Thiruvananthapuram, it was pointed out.  Many foreign travelers who called for ‘She Taxi’ were diverted to other private players due to the failure of the initiative to keep a foolproof online system, it was pointed out.  Private players have low fares and highly effective online system with Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking facility to track vehicles online.

The private online taxi service providers ply for a lower fare of Rs 8 per kilometer while it was Rs 13 per kilometre as per government approval.    Currently, there are 30 ‘She Taxis’ with seven functioning in Thiruvananthapuram, according to the project manager, where the drivers work on contract basis with a monthly income of '33,500. A  new GPS-backed mobile application is being developed to disseminate its services among customers.

The existing application in Google Play Store was developed by a private agency when Gender  Park was not entirely owned. Moreover, the earlier ban for male travelers in ‘She taxi’ has been discarded and to ensure the safety of women drivers ‘101 Mitra’ - a helpline desk- has been enabled. “Most of the drivers have taken loans for buying cars dreaming of financial  independence”, said Shahitha Kamal, Women’s Commission member. “Often people did not prefer ‘She Taxis’ for long drives.  If they are linked with private players with better GPS tracking system,  safety of women can be ensured to some extent”, she pointed out.