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Tehran to launch women-only taxi company

TEHRAN: Iran will launch a women-only taxi company in Tehran aimed at women who feel uncomfortable riding in close proximity with members of the opposite sex, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

“The Ladies’ Safe Trips” taxi company, due to open for business in the next few weeks, will be the first such private sector firm in the capital. Similar taxi lines have been operating in some provincial cities for several years.

The company will only employ female drivers who will wear uniforms and must be married, the Tehran-e Emrouz newspaper said.

Mansoureh Sarkheil, a driver for the company, told the newspaper: “My main motivation for driving in this company is to create ... security for other women who always have to sit stressfully in taxis.” Due to Islamic rules, men and women travel in separate sections in public transportation systems like buses. But in the shared taxis that abound in most cities, women and men are often forced to squash together in cramped conditions, something that many Iranian women find stressful and awkward. reuters

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