Thumbs-up for PickMe’s Women Drivers
View(s):PickMe, Sri Lanka’s latest solution to hailing taxis through one’s mobile device, has taken the initiative to create job opportunities for women in this novel area. Whilst more and more women are beginning to get interested in the profession based on the enquires received by PickMe, the company has managed to engage the services of approximately 12 – 15 women drivers who mostly drive mini cars or Sedans, it said in a media release. 33-year-old Lasanda Deepthi, a mother with one school-going child, has found that PickMe provides her with the ideal opportunity to make a living whilst multitasking as a mother and housewife.
“I have enough time to drop my daughter at school and ferry her to her respective classes; and I run hires in my three-wheeler during my spare time and so I can make some money on the side to make ends meet,” she was quoted as saying. Whilst there is some stigma attached to women taxi drivers, particularly due to the fact that they are exposed to various situations and dangers when driving alone and picking up passengers, the PickMe system offers them a certain security which would help overcome this. This was hitherto unavailable to women who might have aspired to this profession, and with such measures in place, PickMe hopes to make a significant increase in their growing number of women drivers.
PickMe ensures a level of accountability for their drivers as well as their passengers through a system where both parties are clearly identifiable since their relevant profiles can be viewed by the PickMe Center, or in passenger’s case, even by a family member through ETA sharing. As for drivers, they are picking up a passenger whose details are officially recorded in the system through their mobile phones ¬ — unlike picking up a random person off the streets whose profile is unknown. This creates a level of accountability, for both passenger and driver, the company said.