ET BureauBENGALURU: Five years ago, Mumbai native Rupa Swali became separated from her abusive husband.
With little education and without a job, she didn’t have any income – until she joined Viira Cabs as a taxi driver. Since then, she has been able to send her daughter Mili to complete medical school, and is using her income to provide for three struggling households as well. “I started with absolutely nothing. Now I’m very happy, and there’s nothing that I want any more,” said the 52-year-old, whose taxi is on call 24 hours a day.
Her story mirrors many such instances where female drivers have been hired by all-female taxi companies that were established over the past few years, giving these women a taste of financial freedom. In Bangalore, there’s a Rotary Club-sponsored Angel City Cabs, which is being backed by Canara Bank in its bid to expand to 25 drivers in the coming months. Four months ago, the Duchess Club of Chennai set up the Penn Taxi initiative, which has provided three female drivers with vehicles under their own names.
Political activist Susiieben Shah started Priyadarshini Taxi in Mumbai six years ago to empower women to earn their own livelihoods. Today, the company has over 25 cabs, and they have just been awarded 200 cab permits by the Government of Maharashtra, which they hope to fill by the end of next year.
“If men can do it, women can do it better,” said Shah. “The comfort factor for the driver is that it’s an all-women enterprise.” Transportation has always been a male territory, with Ola and Uber, two feuding competitors in the taxi space, each having only a handful of female drivers. “For a woman, it’s tough to get family support for this profession. I took this job as a challenge,” said UberBlack driver Bharathi Veerath, who migrated from Warangal in 2005 to Bangalore with her mother and brother in search of a livelihood. Veerath drives about 12 hours a day and calls driving her ‘passion’.
“If men can do it, women can do it better,” said Shah. “The comfort factor for the driver is that it’s an all-women enterprise.” Transportation has always been a male territory, with Ola and Uber, two feuding competitors in the taxi space, each having only a handful of female drivers. “For a woman, it’s tough to get family support for this profession. I took this job as a challenge,” said UberBlack driver Bharathi Veerath, who migrated from Warangal in 2005 to Bangalore with her mother and brother in search of a livelihood. Veerath drives about 12 hours a day and calls driving her ‘passion’.
“The truth is women are safer drivers anywhere in the world. Women are less involved in accidents,” said Preeti Sharma, managing director of seven-year-old Viira Cabs, also in Mumbai. “You’d have so much more safety on the road.”
“The drive to be an independent woman keeps me motivated,” agreed Reshma Banu, a former housewife who now runs a car rental business that is tied up with eight aggregators, including Ola Cabs. She now owns a fleet of 16 cars and makes Rs 1 lakh a month from Ola Cabs alone.
The biggest challenge these ventures have faced is sky-high attrition rates, disabling them from scaling up and providing city-wide coverage. Out of the 207 women that were trained by Viira Cabs, only 17 are currently with the company; and just three lady drivers still work for Angel City Cabs, from over 20 who received training.
Priyadarshini sees a 50% retention rate. “It’s always family reasons,” explained Sharma, whose Viira Cabs is running up losses every month. “A woman has to have consent from everyone involved in her family because she is not a decision maker. If anything happens at home, hers is the first job that goes out the window. The ones who have stayed with us are women who are primary earners in the family.”
For all startups we spoke to, women drivers handle two to five bookings a day, and take home a monthly sum of around Rs 15,000.
While these taxi services were intended to be for women passengers only, this has proven to be an unsustainable business model since safety in male-operated cabs is not a major issue. These startups have transitioned to taking bookings from families and couples as well. “Taxi fulfillment has to be on the spot, so unless the number of such cabs reaches a critical mass, they would not be reliable as a service,” said Vineet Toshniwal, managing director of investment bank Equirus Capital.
With little education and without a job, she didn’t have any income – until she joined Viira Cabs as a taxi driver. Since then, she has been able to send her daughter Mili to complete medical school, and is using her income to provide for three struggling households as well. “I started with absolutely nothing. Now I’m very happy, and there’s nothing that I want any more,” said the 52-year-old, whose taxi is on call 24 hours a day.
Her story mirrors many such instances where female drivers have been hired by all-female taxi companies that were established over the past few years, giving these women a taste of financial freedom. In Bangalore, there’s a Rotary Club-sponsored Angel City Cabs, which is being backed by Canara Bank in its bid to expand to 25 drivers in the coming months. Four months ago, the Duchess Club of Chennai set up the Penn Taxi initiative, which has provided three female drivers with vehicles under their own names.
Political activist Susiieben Shah started Priyadarshini Taxi in Mumbai six years ago to empower women to earn their own livelihoods. Today, the company has over 25 cabs, and they have just been awarded 200 cab permits by the Government of Maharashtra, which they hope to fill by the end of next year.
“If men can do it, women can do it better,” said Shah. “The comfort factor for the driver is that it’s an all-women enterprise.” Transportation has always been a male territory, with Ola and Uber, two feuding competitors in the taxi space, each having only a handful of female drivers. “For a woman, it’s tough to get family support for this profession. I took this job as a challenge,” said UberBlack driver Bharathi Veerath, who migrated from Warangal in 2005 to Bangalore with her mother and brother in search of a livelihood. Veerath drives about 12 hours a day and calls driving her ‘passion’.
“If men can do it, women can do it better,” said Shah. “The comfort factor for the driver is that it’s an all-women enterprise.” Transportation has always been a male territory, with Ola and Uber, two feuding competitors in the taxi space, each having only a handful of female drivers. “For a woman, it’s tough to get family support for this profession. I took this job as a challenge,” said UberBlack driver Bharathi Veerath, who migrated from Warangal in 2005 to Bangalore with her mother and brother in search of a livelihood. Veerath drives about 12 hours a day and calls driving her ‘passion’.
“The truth is women are safer drivers anywhere in the world. Women are less involved in accidents,” said Preeti Sharma, managing director of seven-year-old Viira Cabs, also in Mumbai. “You’d have so much more safety on the road.”
“The drive to be an independent woman keeps me motivated,” agreed Reshma Banu, a former housewife who now runs a car rental business that is tied up with eight aggregators, including Ola Cabs. She now owns a fleet of 16 cars and makes Rs 1 lakh a month from Ola Cabs alone.
Priyadarshini sees a 50% retention rate. “It’s always family reasons,” explained Sharma, whose Viira Cabs is running up losses every month. “A woman has to have consent from everyone involved in her family because she is not a decision maker. If anything happens at home, hers is the first job that goes out the window. The ones who have stayed with us are women who are primary earners in the family.”
For all startups we spoke to, women drivers handle two to five bookings a day, and take home a monthly sum of around Rs 15,000.
While these taxi services were intended to be for women passengers only, this has proven to be an unsustainable business model since safety in male-operated cabs is not a major issue. These startups have transitioned to taking bookings from families and couples as well. “Taxi fulfillment has to be on the spot, so unless the number of such cabs reaches a critical mass, they would not be reliable as a service,” said Vineet Toshniwal, managing director of investment bank Equirus Capital.
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