GOVT TO HOLD TALKS WITH OLA, UBER TO LET WOMEN CHOOSE CO-PASSENGERS

The government will hold talks with the taxi aggregators such as Ola and Uber to let women using the services to choose their ride-sharing partners, Hindustan Times reported citing two government officials. Officials from the union road and women and child development ministries held a meeting on Wednesday to review the safety measures for women using ride-hailing services.

A recent spate of incidents, including the one in Bengaluru on June 5 in which an Ola cab driver allegedly forced a woman passenger to strip, have triggered a debate on the safety of women. One of the government officials was quoted as saying, “We strongly feel that women passengers using ride-hailing services should have the option to choose their co-passengers.”

The aggregators were also asked to share the standard operating procedure that they follow while recruiting drivers. During the meeting on Wednesday, which was attended by representatives from Ola and Uber, the taxi aggregators have been asked to share the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for recruiting drivers.