‘SHE TAXI’ ANNOUNCEMENT DRAWS CROWDS

The Sunday evening crowd at a city mall looked on with interest as a bunch of youngsters broke into jig in the middle of the lobby. The occasion was a flash mob organised as part of the pre-launch function of the She Taxi service in Kochi.

Actor Sandra Thomas and hairstylist Ambika Pillai were at the pre-launch function to express their support for the venture. Both hailed the project as an encouragement for women’s entrepreneurship. Ms. Thomas said the She Taxi service would be a safe option for women in the city and encouraged women to come forward to operate the service. A model of the white and pink taxi was also unveiled at the function.

The She Taxi service, backed by the State government, will have a fleet of 24X7 taxis operated by women exclusively for women travellers. The project was initiated by Gender Park, promoted by the State Department of Social Justice. The project launched in Thiruvananthapuram in November, is expected to come up in the city within a month.

The pre-launch function was intended to let the public know about the service, while also encouraging women entrepreneurs to come forward to participate in the operation of the She Taxi service. “In Thiruvananthapuram, we started with five cars and now have about 15. We are planning to launch 100 cars in Kochi and we need as many women entrepreneurs to operate the taxi service,” said one of the organisers.

A control room and call centre have already been set up in Kochi for the taxi service. Women can call up the taxi service to book a vehicle. The control room will monitor the movement of the vehicles at all times. She Taxis will also have a recording facility inside the vehicle to monitor the safety of the traveller. Organisers said the taxi service in Thiruvananthapuram was extremely popular especially during late night and early morning hours.