One Mother's Initiative For Safer Taxi Rides

The crime level in Malaysia is always a worry, and virtually everyone has a horror story about being harassed and exposed to crimes while taking public transport.

After hearing one too many stories, full-time mother Denise Tan decided to take matters into her own hands.

Thus was born Riding Pink, a transportation service platform for women that is the first of its kind in the country.

Due to the prevalence of sexual harassment in this country, women-only services are nothing new, with women-only buses and women-only carriages on trains. But this is the first public transport network that connects women service providers with women customers.

It's a novel idea- providing safer taxi rides for women while also giving an opportunity to stay-at-home moms to earn an income while juggling domestic duties.

Tan decided to create Riding Pink after speaking to many stay-at-home mothers.

“Most full-time jobs require us to be in the office the whole day. For a mother, it is a little difficult due to separation anxiety and family commitments while some would have left the workforce for some time and found it difficult to get a job after that,” Tan said.

These women also wanted the flexibility of choosing their own customers, and preferred women, making this a win-win situation for women customers who would feel safer with women drivers.

Tan said that Riding Pink started recruiting women drivers in September via Facebook and they now have a little over 100 drivers already.