Business Idea: Pink Taxi Service for Women

Entrepreneurs across the globe have recognized the business potential in offering secure transportation options for women. Women-only transportation companies are gaining ground in countries such as the United Kingdom, Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, among others.

Women are looking for a more secure and uneventful ride to their destinations, particularly taxis. There are many cases of women being harassed by male taxi drivers, and seeing women drivers give other women confidence that those kinds of harassments will not be experienced. Others just want to put comfort and safety first.

In the United Kingdom, Pink Ladies is a members-only club that offers transportation to women members in what else, but pink cars. Started around 2006, Pink Ladies has a 100% female driving squad, and offers transportation to party-goers safely once the bars have closed. Membership costs £10, and it includes services such as shopping discounts, bingo, travel service, and of course, the use of their pink cars as alternative form of transportation.

Moscow also has its version of “Pink Taxi” also launched sometime in 2006. The service caters to female Moscow citizens anxious about their safety and for Muslim women. Men are allowed in the taxis, provided that they are accompanied by women. The Moscow service has 10 pink cars Daewoo Matiz and Nexia, and the staff consists of 20 female drivers.

The idea has also reached the Middle East, and is a welcome solution to conservative Muslim women who wish to accommodate rules against traveling with unknown men.

In Beirut, Lebanon, a woman entrepreneur named Nawal Fakhri has launched an all pink taxi fleet for women with her Banet Taxi (or girl taxi in Arabic). Launched only this March with three cars and three drivers, demand is good that she now offers 24 hour service and hopes to have a fleet of 24 cars by summer.