Over the past few years, the use of ride-hailing services such as Uber and Careem has increased in Pakistan and some new services have also been introduced in competition. The unreliability of public transport in the country and, at times, its inaccessibility has contributed to the popularity of these services, which rely on digital applications and websites for their transactions. According to the statistics shared by Dubai-based Careem in 2020, there are almost 48 million registered users on the application worldwide. This figure provides an essential insight into the demand for these ride-hailing applications around the world. In Pakistan, the government’s negligence in ensuring quality public transport opens a lucrative market for ride-hailing services as well.
The condition of public transport in Pakistan is abysmal. In 2020, Karachi, the country’s largest commercial hub with an estimated population of over 16 million, was ranked as having the world’s worst transport system. Besides lack of an integrated transport network, women and gender minorities have been reported to not feel safe while using these inadequate services, especially in Karachi. According to the Asian Development Bank’s 2016 policy brief, 85 percent of women reported being harassed while using public transport. Thus, the unavailability of safe and convenient transport affects women disproportionately, often resulting in inaccessibility to essential healthcare services.
When ride-hailing services came to Pakistan, they claimed to be secure, accessible and affordable for those facing mobility issues, particularly women. According to June 2021 stats by Careem, over 3.3 million women had availed the service in Pakistan. Other applications, including Uber and inDriver, are also popular among women for commuting. However, these services fail to prioritise safety, affordability and accessibility not only for women, their primary target market, but also for individuals belonging to marginalised communities who are at the risk of gender-based violence prevalent in Pakistan. A 2019 study by the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), titled “Ride Sharing Apps and Privacy in Pakistan”, found that 28 percent of the users felt physically unsafe while using Careem or Uber.
Failure to Provide Safety
Pakistan is among the countries where access to transport is a challenge for women. In 2019, only 9 percent of households were found to own cars, while 53 percent owned bikes, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Considering these figures pertaining to vehicle ownership, it is safe to assume that these vehicles are mostly owned, controlled and used by male members of the household.
In a country like Pakistan where cases of gender-based violence, sexual harassment, and rape often go unreported, there is an increased need to ensure safety for women where public transport is concerned. According to a 2014 assessment of sexual harassment on public transport and connected spaces in Karachi, published by Asian Development Bank, 75 percent of women who faced harassment while using public transport said that the perpetrator was another passenger; 20 percent said it was the conductor; and 5 percent said that it was the driver. It was expected of the ride-hailing services to reduce safety threats that hinder mobility, but similar concerns continue to grow even after wider use of these applications in the country.
Many women have experienced safety issues while availing these services. Ayesha*, a 25-year-old from Islamabad who works at a private school, shared her experience with DRM. “The driver took the wrong route and stopped the car near a deserted place claiming that the vehicle had run out of fuel. No one could be seen around and the driver insisted on waiting until his brother brought petrol. I was panicking, but meanwhile, a man came up and offered help. He restarted the car within seconds.”
Ayesha said that she had informed her friends of the situation but, at the same time, she felt helpless for not being able to think of a helpline which she could use for support.
Ayesha is not the only woman who has been through this ordeal. Raising concerns over the safety policy of Uber, Fatima*, who uses the service for regular commute, said, “I was dropped by a driver in the middle of a traffic jam because he said it would take a lot of time for the traffic to clear and he couldn’t waste his whole day.” She said that Uber does not have a customer support helpline in Pakistan, so in situations like these, passengers are left with no other option than to get off the cab, chiefly out of fear for their own safety.
Ride-hailing services’ policies are supposed to ensure safety and protection, but passengers’ experiences paint an entirely different picture. If the driver takes a wrong route and suspiciously stops somewhere off the drop-off location, there is no mechanism on any of these applications to ensure the passenger’s safety.
The corporations owning these services claim that they run a background check on their drivers and provide help through customer support service. But mobility providers fail to acknowledge that in many situations, the passenger may not be able to call the helpline while the abuse is taking place. The failure to consider these limitations while drafting policies indicate that the policies of ride-hailing services regarding the safety of users are not only ineffective but also insufficient.
Higher Fares Impeding Affordability
The lack of an integrated transport network affects masses across all genders and ages. In Islamabad, the Metro buses run by the government are mostly found to be overcrowded. As a result, women think twice before taking them due to a large number of male passengers on the vehicles.
Ride-hailing services in Pakistan may have started off as an affordable alternative to public transport, but the present situation hardly shows any significant improvement. In Islamabad, if a local bus service charges Rs40 for a ride from Bhara Kahu to Faizabad (17.8 km), ride-hailing services charge a comparatively higher amount. For instance, inDriver charges around Rs365 for a non-AC car for the same route, Careem Go charges Rs517, and UberGo charges around Rs500. The higher costs of these services clearly show that they still remain unaffordable for most people, especially women.
A number of passengers availing online mobility services remain dissatisfied even after paying high fares. Aliya*, a 27-year-old regular user of various ride-hailing services, said, “I mostly used Careem in the past to commute to the office. With time its fares kept rising, but I never thought of switching the service until its peak factor became a persistent problem for me. Careem would charge higher even during off-peak hours, so I started using another service to maintain my budget.” Constant high fares by Careem resulted in a number of customers dropping the service for other ride-hailing apps.
None of the three widely used services, Careem, Uber and inDriver, has a customer care service that effectively delivers. According to a 2019 study by DRF, 15 percent of the total respondents said that they had positive experience with Careem’s customer service but did not say the same for Uber. Still, accessing customer service has become a challenge as far as all three ride-hailing services are concerned. For instance, neither inDriver nor Uber has a customer care helpline in Pakistan, making it difficult to register an immediate complaint. In case of an emergency, the passenger has to go through the option of support within the application or write an email. Careem, which was previously accessible through its customer service helpline, has made it difficult for customers to use the helpline unless they are a Gold customer – a status any customer can acquire by taking 15 rides per month. Consequently, people end up calling out these services on Twitter, where they often receive an immediate response from the respective mobility provider, but no long-term solutions.
“I once booked inDriver and the expected fare for the ride was Rs450,” said Fatima. “When the ride ended, however, the driver charged me Rs1,490 and showed me the same fare on his phone. I couldn’t argue with him as it was pretty late but I decided to complain about it. When I opened the application to register my complaint, there was no such option, nor was there any helpline number available.” inDriver has become a popular choice for commute across Pakistan as it allows users the option to negotiate fares with drivers, but unavailability of a support helpline remains a concern for those who use it frequently.
Like inDriver, there is no customer service helpline for Uber. One has to write an email or register a complaint through the application, and this makes it even more difficult to convey grievances.
Lack of Transparency
Aneela*, a 26-year-old woman from Islamabad, told DRM, “I felt uncomfortable during [an InDriver] ride as the driver was constantly staring at me through the rear view mirror. But this was nothing compared to what followed. The ride ended, and I came back home. After a while I received inappropriate messages from the driver. I complained to the company about him and shared the driver’s details via email, but I never received any correspondence or update on my complaint. I wonder if that driver still works with inDriver or with other ride-hailing service.”
The users of inDriver have lamented that their privacy is compromised when their contact number is directly shared with the driver. Some of these drivers, who are already aware of the passenger’s location, then have their contact numbers too. However, no effective measures seem to be in place to protect customer’s privacy and ensure security for them.
On the other hand, in the case of Uber and Careem, many customers have reported being overcharged by drivers. Some riders complain that drivers arrive at the pickup location but insist that they pay extra charges or take a private ride with them. Such incidents have significantly increased during the past few years. Despite reporting these issues, they continue to persist, and those who file a complaint against these incidents are given generic responses that do not indicate the specific action against the driver in order to ensure such events do not occur again.
Pakistan is among the countries with the highest gender gap in technology ownership. And because ride-hailing services are dependent on digital devices and internet connectivity, a large number of women continue to be unable to use these applications. Where there is a need to increase access to digital resources in the country, it is also imperative that the services improve their policies to accommodate the needs of their users, as well as ensure strict implementation of safety policies with transparency.
Easy, safe and affordable mobility is crucial for women to progress as access to a safe and convenient transport helps them to pursue their professional goals. However, inadequate and insufficient transport services in Pakistan curtail their freedom of movement. Growing lack of safety, affordability and accessibility for women causes ride-hailing services to fail in effectively bridging the gender gap in mobility in Pakistan. Despite mobility being a basic need, these services are seen as a luxury and this calls for increased affordability.
It is high time these services start working on consumer-centric policies to ensure inclusivity, affordability, transparency, and quality customer care services. The safety of passengers needs to be prioritised by ride-hailing services and the government should also work towards ensuring that mobility providers are held accountable for their practices.
*Names have been changed to protect privacy
