In Bengaluru, women still wary of cabs

Bengaluru: Women who travel by cabs are a nervous lot and they have no qualms about admitting it. "I get paranoid when I travel by cabs, as I feel unsafe. I constantly keep checking the GPS on my phone, just to assure myself that the driver is not taking the wrong route. I make it a point to always inform a friend about my arrival and departure," says Nisha Shetty, an engineering student from Ramaiah College. She’s one of the many women commuters who are scared and ill-at-ease every time they travel by cab.

Chetana, another frequent traveler of private cabs, says, "I feel unsafe when I travel at night. I always send a link to a friend so they can track the cab. I sometimes call them up so the driver knows that someone is waiting for me."
All this anxiety, constant precautions and staying alert have become second nature to women in the city.

2016 has seen multiple cases of sexual harassment, attempted rape, verbal abuse and all sorts of misbehavior against women passengers, travelling alone in private cabs services like Ola and Uber.  Will 2017 be any different?

On 15th December, a committee formed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued guidelines to taxi services, which was sent to the Transport Departments of all states. The Women and Child Development Ministry added a few pointers to safeguard women passengers.

“The State Government should take appropriate measures to provide focused driver-skill programs for women remove entry costs and waive regulatory requirements to encourage more women drivers. The ‘central locking system’ must also be removed, in lieu of safety. E-rickshaws should be operated, for last mile connectivity as they assure safety due to open structures,” were the points mentioned in the report.

When DC contacted Karnataka's Transport Department on their progress in implementing measures to improve female commuter safety, they seemed unaware of the Ministry guidelines report!

However, Mr. HG Kumar, Additional Commissioner for Transport and Secretary of State Transport Authority later said, "We will engage in talks with the Women’s Welfare Department, if they come forward with candidates to be sent to driver training schools. If Ola and Uber recommend women, we will pay for their drivers’ training."

Making it clear that it is not the Transport Department's responsibility to find, select and train women drivers, Mr. HG Kumar also added that, E-rickshaws would not be implemented.

"They will just add to the congestion and affect the revenue of existing cab services," he said. While the idea of E-rickshaws may be subjective, the removal of the central locking system is only practical.

"We are not aware of this and don't usually find many cabs using central locking system. If we do find them, we will add a rule against it in the existing Karnataka cab aggregator policy," Mr. Kumar said.

With little initiative from their side to bring women drivers into the industry and the lack of data on cabs using central locking system, this is a red signal for women that cabs continue to be unsafe and the authorities lack concern.