Women drivers offer safe and convenient rides for passengers

Visakhapatnam: Normally, it is the government that initiates schemes keeping the safety of women and their convenience in view.

But Behara Vijaya Radhika is making similar efforts for the women’s safety and their empowerment in Visakhapatnam.

In what is considered to be a male-dominated domain, she forayed into a new endeavour, placing women’s convenience plus safety as top priority.

Empowering women with driving skills and employing them, her endeavour focuses on providing safe and comfortable rides for women passengers.

On several occasions, Radhika witnessed inconvenience experienced by a number of women in the public transport system.

They encouraged her to roll out one-of-its-kind ‘Femi Rides’, a mobility platform, targeting women passengers.

Emphasising on the slogan ‘women for women’, her mobility platform provides safe travel to women through cabs and two-wheelers.

When Radhika was about to convert her idea into a reality, she had to endure a host of challenges.

“Not many used to come forward for the rides. Even if they volunteer to join FemiRides, most of them lack safe driving skills. Also, some of the families were reluctant to send their daughters for this kind of job,” Radhika explained to The Hans India ahead of the ‘International Women’s Day’ celebrated on March 8.

Soon, Radhika realised that there are serious training lapses among those joining her team.

At her driving school, women drivers provide training. Along with driving skills, technical knowledge will be imparted to the trainees.

Once they get well-trained, employment opportunities as a cab driver will be offered to them.

Women who have come from other cities and those who prefer safe and comfortable rides are now able to navigate to places through the trips offered by FemiRides.

Even schoolchildren who prefer safe travels are availing the rides offered by the platform.

Soon, a dedicated App is going to be launched to make FemiRides more accessible to users.

Launched in 2023, the platform gained traction by offering ride service through a fleet of two-wheelers and four-wheelers. It greatly aided in easing commutation woes among women, enabling them to move from one point to the other independently.

To empower the team further, Radhika has plans to provide enhanced training to them, facilitate placements and help them own a cab availing bank loans.

“The agenda is to make as many women strong as possible,” Radhika adds.

The platform offers multiple services without compromising on safety protocols and has trained more than 1,000 women so far.