An all-female taxi service aimed at increasing women's safely is launching in the West Shore. It would see women, and only women, fill all jobs from dispatch to driver. A company called Women on Wheels is pitching the all-female service that hopes will create safer rides for women.
Shelly Evans, who spent 21 years as a dispatcher, is one of the people behind Women on Wheels and she says that it is about time that a service like this is available in Western Canada. Services like Lady Drive-Her in Halifax and DRIVEHer in Toronto both offer similar female only taxi services.
There has been some resistance to this idea, some male cabbies are complaining about Women on Wheel's all female hiring policy. But Shelley says this is about safety, there are plenty of cabs on the roads that are driven by men giving them ample opportunity. "They've got tons taxis they could drive. Women feel safer with women, older people feel safer with women. We are natural caregivers."
Evans says this isn't about labelling male taxi drivers as dangerous of unsafe. It is about providing an additional travel option for women, children, or the elderly who feel vulnerable. To any fellow male cabbies that feels discriminated against by this new all-female service, Evan's says this. "It's going to be pink! So if they feel okay about driving a pink taxi we will see about that."
Women on Wheels is still waiting for approval, but hope to have their pink cabs rolling and taking fares by the end of the year.