Govt wants Ola and Uber to allow women to choose their ridesharing partners

THE TRIGGER WAS A JUNE 5 INCIDENT IN BENGALURU, WHERE AN OLA DRIVER FORCED A WOMAN PASSENGER TO STRIP

NEWDELHI: The government will talk to taxi aggregators such as Ola and Uber to provide an “exclusive women pooling” option to women passengers, in the aftermath of incidents where passengers were harassed or assaulted by drivers or co-passengers, two senior government officials said.

The Union road transport and highways ministry will call a meeting of taxi aggregators shortly to discuss the issue, said one of the officials cited above. “This is one option we are mulling, to enhance the safety of women using shared taxi services. We strongly feel that women passengers using ride hailing services should have the option to choose their co-passengers,” said another official, who asked to not be named. Last week, Union women and child (WCD) minister Maneka Gandhi had mooted the idea of giving women passengers the option of choosing co-passengers. Gandhi had said that her ministry will discuss it with the road ministry.

This issue, however, was not discussed at a meeting between road and WCD ministries officials on Wednesday. The meeting reviewed measures related to the safety of women using ride hailing services. The trigger for the meeting was a June 5 incident in which an Ola cab driver in Bengaluru allegedly forced a woman passenger to strip.

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