A student from Karachi’s Bano Qabil program, Raja Kamran, has built a ride hailing app designed exclusively for women, connecting female passengers with female drivers only. The app is currently in its final development stage and is expected to launch soon.
What the App Does
The platform works like existing ride-hailing services (think Careem or inDrive), but with one core difference: every driver and every rider on the platform is a woman. No male drivers, no male passengers. The idea is to remove one of the biggest hesitations women in Pakistan report about daily commuting, getting into a car or on a bike with a male stranger.
Why Raja Kamran Built It
According to Kamran, the motivation was simple: women in Pakistan need safer, more comfortable transportation options, and existing ride hailing platforms don’t fully solve that problem. Her app aims to do two things at once:
- For riders: create a trusted space where women feel secure booking a ride, without the safety concerns that come with an unknown male driver.
- For drivers: open up a real income opportunity for women who want to work as drivers, in a setting built specifically around their comfort and safety.
It’s a pattern seen elsewhere in Pakistan’s transport sector too, services like VSisters and the earlier Paxi (“Pink Taxi”) initiative in Karachi were both built on the same premise: women drivers, serving women passengers, addressing harassment concerns that mainstream ride-hailing apps haven’t fully solved.
Where the Idea Came From: The Bano Qabil Program
Raja Kamran developed the app as part of Bano Qabil, a free IT training initiative run by the Alkhidmat Foundation. Launched in 2022, Bano Qabil offers no-cost, roughly three-month courses in areas like web development, digital marketing, graphic design, and freelancing, aimed at giving Pakistani youth practical, job-ready tech skills. The program has since expanded beyond Karachi to cities across the country, with a strong push toward including women among its students.
Kamran’s app is a good example of what the program is designed to produce: not just certificates, but working products students build to solve problems they actually see around them.
What’s Next
The app is described as being in its final stages of development, with a public launch expected soon. Once live, it’ll be available as a mobile app, letting women book rides specifically with female drivers.
FAQ
Who created this women only ride hailing app?
The app was created by Raja Kamran, a student in Karachi’s Bano Qabil program.
What is Bano Qabil?
Beginning in 2022, Pakistani students can enroll in free IT skills training courses including web development, digital marketing, and graphic design under the Alkhidmat Foundation’s Bano Qabil initiative.
How is this app different from Careem or inDrive?
But it’s not just any ride-hailing app; it’s a service that pairs female passengers with female drivers, and there are no male drivers or passengers.
When will the app launch?
It is in the final development stages and does not have an official debut date to the public yet.
Is this the first women-only ride-hailing service in Pakistan?
No, women-only trips are also available through projects such as Paxi (“Pink Taxi”) in Karachi and platforms like VSisters, indicating a larger movement across Pakistan’s transport sector to tackle women’s safety issues.
