She Taxi- Offers a Safe Journey for Women

She Taxi, the 24X7 taxi service operated by women for women travellers, will be launched soon at Kochi city, after the successful implementation of the project in Thiruvananthapuram,

the capital city of Kerala. The service initiated by the Gender Park which functions under the Department of Social Justice, Government of Kerala has been designed to ensure a safe and reliable mode of transport for women as well as to encourage entrepreneurship and self-employment among women. The ‘24x7 She Taxi Service’ has an advanced safety enabled technology that would make travelling much safer and secure. Travellers can book the cab via online or mobile on a 24X7 basis. The traveller can dial a specific service number to book the taxi, which will be unique for the entire state. The traveler will receive a Unique Identification Code along with a 24x7 She Taxi service number. This will allow the traveler to verify the cab number before boarding the cab. The cab service will pick the traveler from the designated boarding point and drop at the specified destination. The traveller will have the option to make payment via cash, debit card or credit card. In order to avoid any disputes on the travel fare, an electronic payment system will be introduced. Various other features such as refreshment mini bar and entertainment facilities including music, play stations are also provided in the cabs.

The cab, designed and integrated with Global Positioning system(GPS) will enable to monitor and track the activities of the traveller as well as the driver and will facilitate immediate aid in case of any emergency situation. The cabs are also programmed to de-mobilize the cab based on the directions from the ‘24x7 Emergency Call Centre’ to ensure a higher degree of pro-active safety element especially during unforeseen circumstances. Safe Bus, Safe Me, Safe Me Mobile and Safe City Response Ecosystem are the major safety offering technologies used in She Taxi service. The Safe bus technology used to control the speed, sudden break, and sudden turn and to ensure engine safety condition to improve the driving behavior. Safe Me is a personal emergency alert service to the She Taxi drivers and the passengers inside the cab. Safe Me Mobile is a mobile based emergency alert application for She Taxi drivers outside the car. A control room had been set up to track and monitor the operations of the cab on a constant basis. All alerts will be received and vehicles will be proactively monitored from this control room. The support of public safety officers is also available.

She Taxi is a project that enhances women entrepreneurship, self employment and financial security of women. The Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation, another associate of the project, will give financial support for the entrepreneurs. KSWDC will provide loans for the entrepreneurs at a lower interest rate to purchase the vehicle.  Gender Park is the owner of She Taxi service and they manage overall monitoring and coordination. Gender Park will identify the beneficiaries, select and extend fund support to them. Gender Park will organize promotional and branding activities of the project, awareness and training programmes to the entrepreneurs.

Gender Park is an autonomous institution promoted by the Government of Kerala to resolve gender inequity in development. Gender Park acts as a convergence centre for Women Studies, Research Activities, Entrepreneurship Initiatives, Documentation, Library, Education, Health and Support, Business and Trade, Productive Sectors, etc. It has been created to tackle the problems and issues of women and to ensure better social security in all aspects of their well-being. At Gender Park, various activities of women are pooled into a common platform irrespective of social, political or economic divisions.

She Taxi Service is expected to solve the travelling problem of women in late hours up to an extent. It will support the women travellers from working category and the tourists visiting Kerala. The security and living standard of women will project the development level of a State. Hence She Taxi, a public sector initiative for women empowerment will be the start of a new epoch.