Starter Kit. Idea 438 of 500. Cluster 23
Women-only transport services for the night shifts and the early trains
The mechanism, from the book
The single largest unused asset in the country is sitting at home, and the reasons are practical, not attitude.
The first step
Talk to the HR manager of one factory or hospital that runs night shifts and ask how many women have turned down those shifts because of the trip home. Then ask 10 women on those shifts what they pay now and what they would pay for a women-only van with a woman driver, door to door. The proof is an employer willing to pay for seats, or a full van of paying riders.
- Who pays first
- A factory or hospital that cannot fill its night and early shifts with women, and pays for seats because safe transport widens the pool it hires from.
- What leaves today
- Women refuse shifts they could do because the trip home is unsafe; safe transport turns that refusal into wages and output kept on the island.
Ask first
- National Transport Commission. Ask what permit a van needs to carry shift workers on a fixed run.
- Department of Motor Traffic. Ask which licence a driver needs to carry passengers for hire at night.
Check before you spend
Confirm the passenger permit for the run, insurance for every passenger, checked drivers, and an agreed pickup point the employer is happy with.
Find out these three numbers
- How many women have turned down night shifts over the trip home?
- What do those women pay to get home now?
- Would the employer pay part of each fare?
A comparison from the book
The list. Chapter Fourteen
"They are the economy. Childcare, transport safety, workplace law,"
A safe ride home is part of the job offer. Without it the shift stays empty.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.