LAHORE: GoSafr, a women-focused ride-hailing app is set to launch its services in Pakistan by end of 2017.
This app has been developed by an ex-Uber driver Michael Pelletz and GoSafr aims to hire women only drivers for its service and promote women empowerment. The company, which was setup relatively recently is said to have been successfully running their services in Boston, United States.
In a statement to Aurora magazine, CEO GoSafr Pakistan Ramla Hassan said women in majority cases felt unsafe riding with male drivers despite the former are 50 percent of the population, but there is no service that provides such services.
Although GoSafr is primarily portraying itself as a women centric ride-hailing service provider, but it would also have male drivers and offers its services to male customers as well.
On the contrary, a service named Paxi launched on March 23, in Karachi and is the first ever private cab service that exclusively caters to women travellers of the metropolitan.
With over 7 Suzuki Every Vans and Nissan Clippers – which display the company’s pink and white branding – Paxi has a fleet of female drivers who are well trained for driving, interpersonal communication and safety measures.
This is a healthy development in the ride-hailing sector, as such expansivity provides opportunities for women to earn a livelihood and increases female participation in the economy.
