Celebrating A Year Of Service: Pakistan’s First Women-only Rickshaw
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016 9:26:47 by modousarr
Lahore has been met with Pakistan’s first women-only rickshaw service. The intention of such a service was to provide staff with a unique way of attaining financial independence and an avenue for passengers to enjoy a ride without the intrusion of male drivers and passengers.
However, only after a year in business, “Pink Rickshaw” situated in the Punjabi City of Lahore has found itself struggling with business.
A Scotland-based charity through Annie Lennox has promised offer some help to the rickshaw company. The Rickshaw business founder, Zar Aslam has said that she hopes to acquire the finances to get ten rickshaws by September.
Having narrowly escaped a kidnapping in a rickshaw when she was a student, Aslam shared with Reuters her aim to have 25 of the pink-and-white rickshaws on the road by mid-2016. However, the manufacturers sent in only six, of which three are too timeworn for usage.
“There are several women waiting to get the rickshaws,” said Aslam, who also runs the Environment Protection Fund, a Pakistani non-profit agency.
The estimated cost of rickshaws are $3000 each, minus the cost for tracking and anti-theft systems.
“The first few rickshaws we bought were expensive but now we’re looking at cheaper models… The only disappointment is to get the funding for more rickshaws because the demand is out there and it is just a matter of getting all the funds together,” Aslam said.
Women like Parveen Bibi would enjoy more from this, as it will them get around town, making life easier and also whilst earning a living, especially in country where sexual crime is a daily prevalence and often goes unreported.
After the death of her husband, Bibi acquired the position of family sole breadwinner. Despite the fact that she only drives during the day because of safety reasons, she comments on how customers are delighted about her service.
“Women passengers are happy that they can now travel with a female tri-auto driver and feel comfortable,” she says.
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=52438
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