In a significant move to encourage women’s mobility and entrepreneurship, Rapido, a leading ride-hailing company in India, has announced plans to introduce pink bike taxis for women in Karnataka this year. Rapido co-founder Pavan Guntupalli made the announcement at the Global Investors Meet Karnataka 2025 conference, held in Bengaluru on February 14.

The pink bike taxis shall be a women-to-women service, and the aim is to offer more secure mobility options and generate 25,000 employment opportunities for women in the state by 2025.

A Ride Towards Gender-Inclusive Mobility
“This year, Karnataka will have pink bikes – a service by women, for women. This is one of our key initiatives for women empowerment, and we’re proud to be creating 25,000 jobs just within this year,” said Pavan Guntupalli, addressing a question during a panel session.

The pink bikes initiative is a response to age-old issues of women’s safety in public transport and shared mobility services. By hiring female captains and providing all-female ridership, Rapido is seeking to eliminate major barriers that restrict women’s access to flexible work and secure commuting.

Company Origins: Built from the Ground Up
Throughout the session, Guntupalli reminisced about Rapido’s humble origins in 2015.

“Our initial 15 drivers were indeed our own employees. We began from scratch, testing and verifying everything on our own vehicles.”

He went on to explain that initial feedback from female passengers indicated high levels of trust and comfort in the early days. As the company grew and operations became more diverse, however, it became apparent that many women riders still preferred female drivers for personal comfort and cultural reasons.

“India is a diverse country. With expansion, we realized that women passengers were more at ease with women riders. That was a cue for us,” he further added.

Women Focus in Tier-2 and Tier-3 India
Guntupalli highlighted Rapido’s goal of generating employment opportunities in India’s Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

35% of employment opportunities generated by Rapido are in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns
The company is aggressively working to induct and nurture women entrepreneurs who are rural-based
The pink bicycle project will focus on urban and semi-urban locations in Karnataka, with training and induction assistance
“That’s going to be a big success metric for us—how many women we can uplift through employment and entrepreneurship,” Guntupalli stated.

Industry Leader Support
The panel session also included Edelweiss Mutual Fund’s MD and CEO Radhika Gupta, who emphasized the bigger picture of generating economic opportunities for women.

“Being a CEO, I actually spend more time in Tier-2 and Tier-3 India than Tier-1. As long as we don’t take women from every economic stratum, we are only flying with one wing. To make the engine fly, we need two wings—men and women,” Gupta added.

She emphasized that Indian economic growth cannot be maintained without the involvement of women as entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders.

Rapido’s Gender-Inclusive Strategy
Rapido’s pink bike taxi business is an emerging trend among Indian startups to transcend profit and incorporate impact-driven objectives in their growth strategies. The initiative is also consistent with government and investor agendas for companies to lead gender equality and social advancement.

Rapido’s approach comprises:

Onboarding and training 25,000 women captains in Karnataka in 2025
Providing gender-sensitive rider support and safety procedures
Investing in local partnerships to fuel onboarding in smaller districts
Empowering women’s economic independence through flexible, dignified work
What’s Next?
As the trial takes off in Karnataka, Rapido will be measuring the success of the model and contemplating opening up the pink bike service to other states soon. If things go well, it can be a model flagship for gender-friendly ride-hailing services across India.

The company is already scouting collaborations with state government departments and vocational training programs to ensure the initiative becomes sustainable and scalable.

pink bike taxi
With safety, accessibility, and inclusion at the heart of its latest initiative, Rapido’s pink bike taxi launch in Karnataka is a turning point in India’s mobility sector. One of the first large-scale initiatives to establish a women-only bike taxi network, this move could not only redefine commuter journeys but also make a significant contribution to economic empowerment for women in urban and semi-urban India.