Following a trend of car services catered to female clients, Palestinian training and development firm Ishraqat is bringing women-only taxis to the West Bank city of Hebron, Ma'an News Agency reports.

Ishraqat director Hazem At-Takrawi said Monday his company has already begun training women to drive female-only cabs.  The cabs, painted bright pink, should be quite popular, 95% Palestinians reporting they would accept the cabs. 

Takrawi went on to say the niche taxi company will stimulate the Hebron economy, citing more then 100 women have applied to be drivers.  If the Hebron taxi hub is  a success, Takrawi says they will expand to other West Bank cities.

Women-only taxis are already in service in Beirut, Dubai, Cairo, and Tehran.  In cities like Cairo where sexual harassment is rampant, busy women can feel a little more comfortable and safer in a taxi with a female driver.  Female-only transit expands beyond the Arab world - in Turkey, one company rents a fleet of pink BMWs driven by women trained in self-defense, and in Switzerland some shopping centers offer women-only parking near the fronts of stores (Marie Claire).


Excerpt:

Palestinian company is planning to bring women-only taxis – a phenomenon already popular in Beirut and elsewhere – to the conservative West Bank city of Hebron.

Hazem At-Takrawi, the director of the Ishraqat training and development firm, said on Monday that his company is already training women to drive the female-only cabs. As in Beirut, the cars would be pink, he told anchor Adel Eghraieb on the television show “On the Table.”

Asked whether Hebron and Palestinians in general would accept the idea, At-Takrawi said the company already commissioned a survey that found that 95% of Palestinians would accept the new cabs.


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Photo:  Lakewentworth - Flickr

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