Ladies and no gentlemen for Delhi's first 'She' cab

City's first cab service with women drivers to roll out from April 1

If you feel jittery with a man in the driver's seat of your cab, then you can dial the city's first all-female taxi service, driven exclusively by women.

The Delhi Cab Service, a radio taxi service provider in the city, will roll out "For Sheu00a0radio taxi service" from April 1. The service can be availed by dialing 4433322.

In the first phase, 20 all-women radio taxies will hit the roads and more will be added subsequently, a company official said.

India's first woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi will launch the service. The drivers of the "She" radio cabs have been specially trained by the company.

"We are already running a similar service in Mumbai which is very popular. Initally, 20 radio taxies will be made available to women commuters from Delhi and the National Capital Region. The training of women drivers is underway and in the days to come more drivers will be roped in," said the official, on condition of anonymity.

The women drivers have been given skill improvement and mannerism training at the company's institute, Farshe Training and Logistics and Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR) run by Maruti Udyog in Delhi.

The women will not only be trained in driving but also in self-protection. "Keeping in view the unsafe environment of the city, the women drivers have been given martial arts and other related training so that they can prevent any untoward incident. A minimum of one month training on safety aspects has been imparted to each woman taxi driver. The vehicles are monitored from a central control room through global positioning system," the official said.

The Delhi Cab Service currently runs over 500 radio taxies in the city. The cab service was launched in May 2007 by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.