Chennai women get trained as drivers for hire

Mohammed Nawaz, managing director of Chennai Women Drivers, hands out a yellow pamphlet to all his potential clients, listing 12 reasons why women make better drivers. It’s part of his campaign to change the notion that women don’t drive well. Set up last year, Chennai Women Drivers is located on Cathedral Road and provides the services of women drivers for women, children and senior citizens. They drive the client’s car. All his drivers are graduates trained to drive all kinds of cars.

“Our drivers are skilled professionals and are hired by us on a monthly basis. They are then deployed to the client’s location. We are very particular about the safety of our drivers and passengers. If there is a male passenger, he has to be accompanied by a woman throughout the journey. The customers are made to sign a legal contract where they can be taken to court if they misbehave with our drivers,” he adds. They can be hired between 8 am and 8 pm and they only work for nine hours a day. Women from all walks of life — college students to single mothers, corporate employees and driving enthusiasts — have shown an interest in the job. “All they need to have is a driving license and enough driving experience. We have a human resource professional, who tests their driving skills. A thorough background check of the driver and customer is done,” adds Nawaz.

Driving is not seen as a lucrative job, but Nawaz says that it is an untapped market and has many takers. “A few years ago when I was in the US, I hired a cab for my mother to accompany my pregnant sister to the hospital. They were unhappy with the insensitivity of the driver. That’s when I started researching on women drivers in Chennai and realised that there were no such services here,” he says. Women keen to be part of the driver workforce find this is a perfect opportunity to add to their household income. Vidhya, who works at a BPO during the week, makes Rs 10,000 a month by driving during the weekends. “I have been driving for eight years now and I enjoy getting a chance to drive different kinds of cars. I am hired for driving luxury cars for clients. I have driven a Jaguar, Audi and BMW. It not only lets me earn extra money, but also gives me the opportunity to drive the mean machines that I had always looked at with amazement on the road,” she says. 

She does grant that the road is not always kind to women. “People start judging when they see a woman behind the wheel — and one can imagine what they think when they see her driving a luxury car. I keep my cool because I am handling an expensive car and I need to consider the client’s comfort,” she says. Women clients feel safer, considering the many incidents of harassment by cab drivers. “Usually, when I hire a cab, I send the details to my husband for safety. I completely trust a woman driving me and I can now skip that,” says Sanjana R, a homemaker. 

Bookings can be only done online through booking@chennaiwomendrivers.com.