Is it safe to hire an outstation cab in India for women passengers?
I have taken quite a few short distance cabs between Mumbai-Pune and Delhi-Chandigarh. Since I knew those routes well, mostly used known or recommended drivers, and I was following the safety tips, it never felt unsafe.
Also, there is a lot of traffic on these routes which gave me a feeling of comfort from a safety point of view.
In April 2021, I needed to hire a cab for a trip from Chandigarh to Himachal with my friend, Ipsita.
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My First Long Distance Out Station Cab
Despite having stayed in Chandigarh for nearly ten years of my life, I rarely went on road trips to Himachal during that time.
I guess the road trip bug had barely bitten me by then.
In April 2021, Ipsita and I decided to go to Himachal from Mumbai. A road trip from Mumbai was not practical so we initially contemplated flying to Delhi and picking up my parent’s car for our road trip.
The other option was to fly to Chandigarh and either hire a rental car or an outstation cab from there. My friend left the decision on to me as I was going to be the driver. I did my usual Pros-Cons list to make that decision.
Flying to Delhi was soon ruled out due to the lack of clarity regarding pandemic rules. Despite having a negative RT-PCR report, we were unsure if we would enter the final state (Himachal Pradesh) within 72 hours of the sample collection time.
Now the decision was to be made between hiring a cab from Chandigarh or taking a rental from Chandigarh.
Pros for hiring a cab from Chandigarh:
- Driving in the hills can be a little tricky due to the narrow roads and slush/snow. I had never been towards Jibhi/Kasol, so did not have any idea about the road conditions.
- Being the driver, I would not be able to enjoy the scenery
- Driving from Delhi to Jibhi in a day would be long and we would have to break our journey. Also, I had already done Delhi – Chandigarh several times and the route is not scenic. The only thing tempting on that route was Murthal ke parathe.
- Our plan was to go to Tirthan and Kasol and walk around after reaching these places. So we anticipated needing a car only for pick and drop.
After completing my pros list, I realised there was no point making a con list. We had to hire a cab.
Now the next decision was to decide on the cab company.
Outstation Cab Options
Since we were two women travelling and also two women who had recently given up on corporate jobs to follow our passion, we had to find the right balance between safety and budget.
We looked at a lot of outstation cab services and also directly spoke to two drivers recommended by my friends from Chandigarh. The drivers were turning out to be expensive as they were charging us for the return trip as well.
We decided to concentrate on the cab service providers. We looked at the below options:
We researched, read reviews and finally zeroed in on the first two options. The final quotation provided by Gozo cabs was lower (Approximately 4200 INR for an AC sedan from Chandigarh to Jibhi which is about 260 km). Also, another friend of mine had used their service about a year ago and was praising them.
We finalised Gozo cabs and were not disappointed.
Booking Process
The process to book with Gozo cabs is simple.
While I was trying to check the quotation online, I received a call from Gozo customer service and I was offered a discounted rate which was the lowest quotation across all the cab services.
I received a link in my email id and had to pay 25% of the amount as booking amount. On paying the amount, I received an email with my reservation details with a special comment stating ‘women travelers’.
The total fare break up was also provided leaving no confusion regarding inclusions and exclusions (eg. tolls).
Around 6 hours prior to our departure time, the driver and cab details were updated in the reservation email itself.
We used the same cab service for our return journey from Kasol to Chandigarh and the process was exactly the same.
Unfortunately, they did not have any service between Jibhi and Kasol and we had to use the local cab which was quite expensive (3000 INR for 80 km).
Review For Gozo Cabs
We used Gozo cabs twice during this Himachal trip (Chandigarh to Jibhi and Kasol to Chandigarh) and were happy with the service.
- Customer service was excellent
- Cabs were on time and were neat
- Cabs were of the category promised and were in a decent condition
- The drivers had no qualms regarding multiple stops. Seeing our excitement, our driver even made an unscheduled stop only to show us a view point which added about 20 minutes to his time.
- The drivers are local so they are familiar with the roads and terrain
- No hidden charges
It seems that the drivers usually register with multiple cab service providers and depending on their location, the rides are assigned to them. This basically means that irrespective of the cab service, you may travel with the same driver.
The difference thus is in the customer service experience and the quote.
Both 0ur drivers were decent and polite and were happy to oblige to our multiple stop requests for tea, meals and washroom.
In fact on our way to Jibhi, it had started raining and there was a lot of muddy water on the road. At one stretch, there was also a lot of cement as there was construction happening on the road.
The only request our driver had of us was to not roll down our windows in muddy areas. While I did comply to his request during most of our journey, I gave in when the river Beas was very close to our car; and that to on my side. Within half a minute, a car overtook us and splashed quite a bit of the mud+cement mix in our car.
My black jeans had multiple spots and so did our car. But most of the impact was on our driver as he was wearing a crisp white shirt which now had multiple polka dot spots from the muddy cement mix.
I am sure he was furious but all that he said was “Mam, kahaa tha aapko aisa hoga“.
He was irritated, of course but he did not take it out on us. I was feeling really guilty and tried to clean his car as best as I could using all the sanitizer spray we had.
Needless to say, I did not have the heart to roll down the window….for about half an hour after this incident.
Coming back to my our review: Our experience was extremely pleasant and we did not feel unsafe for even a bit; even after dusk. This month, Ipsita used their service from Coimbatore airport to Ooty and had the same pleasant experience. She was travelling solo but never felt unsafe.
I totally recommend their service for women travellers.