Women bus drivers: A ticket to greater freedom

Omkari’s family was scandalised when she told them she wanted to learn how to drive. This is not women’s work, they protested. Better stick to the odd tailoring job at home. Omkari, who uses only one name and has studied till class 10, persisted. The battle was won once she convinced her husband, who runs a decorating business, to visit the Azad Foundation office where she would be learning. Dedicated to “sustainable livelihoods with dignity for resource-poor women in transport to create a safe and equal world for all women”, the foundation would teach Omkari to drive and then get a job.

It wasn’t easy, waking up at 4 am to finish her household chores, then rushing to learn. But it was worth it. Her first job was with a doctor. Then, she got herself a commercial licence and began driving taxis.

The step to get a licence to drive heavymotor vehicles seemed like a logical progression. In December 2020, 10 years after getting her first licence, she applied. But jobs for women bus drivers at the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) are proving to be elusive.

So, while she waits, she teaches other women drivers.

An October 2014 survey on the world’s most unsafe cities for public transport for women, ranked Delhi the fourth-worst. Hiring women drivers and conductors will certainly instill confidence and enable more women to use public transport. But as of August, only 2.7% of DTC’s 28,949 DTC employees, including conductors, were women.

DTC hired its first woman driver, V Saritha, in April 2015 with announcements to hire more. Six years later, Saritha remains its sole woman driver.

“We want more women drivers in public transport,” says Delhi’s transport minister Kailash Gahlot.

So what’s the hitch?

The first is a minimum height requirement. Earlier when buses had fixed seats, this was 162 cm (5 feet, 3 inches). Now, with low floor buses and adjustable seats, women must be at least 159 cm (5 feet, 2 inches) to qualify.

The second is that drivers must have licences to drive buses for at least five years. But, Amrita Gupta, director of research and advocacy, Azad Foundation says: “If there are no opportunities for women, why would they apply for such a licence and then sit at home for five years?”

Maharashtra has set a precedent. In August 2019, the state transport corporation inducted 163 women to drive buses. Height requirements were relaxed to 153 cm, and women with a year’s experience of commercially driving taxis could apply.

Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have begun inducting women bus drivers. This year in February, Uttar Pradesh announced that 19 women are undergoing training after which they’ll serve a 17-month probation period.

“All women want is a chance,” says Gupta. Omkari has not given up on her dream to one day drive a bus. Driving, she says, is her ticket to mobility and knowledge. “It gives me wings,” she says.