Pink Taxis are a fleet of airport cabs that are exclusively for women passengers for transit to and from the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). Flagged off in January this year with just 10 taxis, now the number has grown to 14 and is expected to grow up to 50 by the end of December 2019. Until now, these taxis have driven 5000 women passengers from the KIA.
First-Of-Its-Kind Service In Bengaluru
Pink Taxis are the first-of-its-kind service in the IT City of India. The venture is a joint collaboration between the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) and Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC).
According to the Go Pink Cabs co-founder that runs the fleet of Pink Taxis, Anuradha Udayshankar,
“Earlier, out of the nearly 70 women drivers who underwent training, only10% lasted till on-boarding. We are expecting this ratio to improve since we have set a target of operating at least 50 Pink Taxis from the international airport by December, which has been approved by KSTDC. We have also begun serving passengers from the city to the airport and a few cabs are parked at the KSTDC office for this purpose.”
She further added, “Currently, we have provided the cabs, but we are now encouraging women who have sedans to come forward and enroll with the platform as drivers.”
Fleet To Expand Based On Demand
The managing director of KSTDC, Kumar Pushkar said that they will expand the fleet based on the demand.
Kumar said, “The fleet of Pink Taxis is growing. We have around 15 vehicles which have already been registered. As per our agreement with BIAL, we can operate 850 cabs at the airport. We will ensure that whenever we receive more applications from women, we will get in touch with BIAL and request them to increase this number. In terms of safety of women commuters, the initiative has been appreciated and we have not received a single complaint so far.”
Recognizing these taxis is very easy as they have a pink bumper. The services are available 24/7 for women commuters and can be availed by calling on KSTDC’s call center number 080-44664466.
