Two years after they began operating in Chennai with a team of about 10 drivers, Maa Ulaa, a bike taxi service run entirely by a team of people with disabilities, now has around 24 drivers operating across the city with plans to expand operations across the State.
“We participated in a job fair for the disabled last week in Tirunelveli and got over 25 applications from persons who wanted to join our team. We’ve got requests from disability rights groups from Coimbatore, Erode, Madurai and several other districts as well to begin operations there,” says Mohammed Gaddafe, one of the founding members.
The service was conceived in early 2016 after Mr. Gaddafe and K. Balaji realised the need to provide employment opportunities to people with disabilities. “Many of them were given two-wheelers by the State government and we thought that they could put it to good use by starting a bike taxi service,” he said.
First woman member
While the team has expanded over the last year or so, its first woman member, T. Selvi, joined around six months ago.
“Many women with disabilities who have two-wheelers are hesitant to join us and I want to tell them that while this is a good source of income for me, I am also independent now and I love being my own boss. I just went to Kovalam and have came to Broadway now,” said a confident Ms. Selvi. She operates in areas near Ennore and her regular passengers include a school teacher and a few college students.
The excitement among bike drivers of Maa Ulaa is evident, as they speak about their plans to release an app. “Many persons who wanted to become bike taxi drivers have told us that they are hesitant to approach people and ask them if they want to use their services. Having an app will make it easier since we will automatically receive the booking and we just need to go and pick people up,” said T. Raja.
Currently, drivers with Maa Ulaa either have regular passengers or they operate around particular areas based on the calls they receive. “A few of us also do night drops. I start at 10 p.m. from Koyambedu and continue till early morning,” said Mohan Kamatchi, a driver.
“Initially, people used to be hesitant to get on to our vehicle,” said Mr. Gaddafe, pointing to his two-wheeler fitted with extra wheels. “But now, they are increasingly aware that this is a far more economical and faster way to get around the city. During Cyclone Vardah, our drivers helped an Internet service provider take their engineers across the city to areas where their cables got snapped,” he recalled. Food delivery operators based in the city are in talks to rope them in, he added.
At present, Maa Ulaa charges ₹10 per km from passengers. From introducing six to eight-hour day packages to offering their services to small-scale businesses to help with deliveries, Mr. Gaddafe said that he only expects the team to grow larger and enjoy more patronage.
“People who chose to travel with us — be it lawyers, government officials, students or doctors — will always keep coming back to us. We are motivating more persons with disabilities to join us so that they enjoy being their own boss and earn a steady income. As we gear up to launch the app, we expect at least 40 additional drivers to join us,” he says.