Safety kits distributed among drivers of ride-hailing service

Ride-hailing service Careem has partnered with the Sindh and local governments to create awareness about safety measures of their rides during the COVID-19 pandemic. Careem distributed safety kits to all its active captains across Pakistan, starting from Karachi, in a ceremony held in the commissioner office on Wednesday.

The ride-hailing service has pledged to install car disinfectants on its select opportunity centres for its captains to regularly sanitise their cars. These disinfectants will be free of charge for all captains of cars, bikes and rickshaws. Protective divider screens will also be installed in select cars for a better customer in-ride experience.

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shalwani and Sindh Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Secretary Nazar Hassan Shahani are part of Careem’s initiative. Shahani said Careem had assured them to take all safety measurements during the pandemic.

He said all ride-hailing services were required to take rides after disinfecting their cars and make sure that the commuter, as well as the drivers, wear face masks. “Inside the car,” he said, “sanitiser and extra masks must be present all the time.”

From Friday, the RTA secretary said, they were going to launch an awareness campaign regarding the COVID-19 spread to educate people how necessary was it to wear masks while travelling in buses or ride-hailing services. He said they would also distribute masks among the public.

Meanwhile, Careem has imposed a mandatory policy of zero tolerance for both captains and its customers for not wearing masks and maintaining social distance at all time in-ride.

Commenting on the utmost importance of safety, Zeeshan Hasib Baig, Careem Pakistan CEO and Country General Manager, said they wanted to be “loud and clear about the safety initiatives as this is the utmost need of the hour”. He said captains and customers were requested to strictly follow safety.