Namma Yatri Hosts Women Driver Experience in Bengaluru

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Wednesday, 22 July 2026

Namma Yatri recently organised an experiential activation in Bengaluru to bring the opportunity to women who are from different professions to experience a day in the life of a driver partner. The event took place last Saturday with the aim of breaking with the stereotype of women having a limited role in mobility and demonstrating that driving is a career that provides women with autonomy in their career, in their working hours and in their income.

In the one day activation, the women were drawn from various industries, and invited to hop in the car and take on ride orders from the Namma Yatri app and drive the city of Bengaluru just like the Namma Yatri driver partners do every day. The students did not just hear about the trade, they were given the opportunity to get up close and personal with it and truly understand the profession they were considering, and what rewards and challenges it has to offer.

It all kicked off at Kempegowda International Airport, one of the busiest transportation hubs in Bengaluru, where the participants logged in to the Namma Yatri app and began accepting rides. They drove passengers throughout the day, engaged with passengers, had to navigate the city, and had to deal with the day to day operations of providing safe and reliable transportation services. The initiative also recorded the personal experiences and reflections of each participant, on their journey and what they learnt during it.

Key Highlights:

• Namma Yatri hosts Bengaluru activation to encourage women to explore driving careers
• Women professionals experience a day as driver partners using the Namma Yatri app
• Initiative promotes women’s empowerment and greater gender inclusion in urban mobility

Representatives from various professions were involved, underscoring the fact that women from any profession or sector should explore the mobility sector. The participants of the activation were Vidhu Vinod (Target's Lead Program Manager Strategy & Operations) and Preity Nanwani (TBWALintas' Brand Manager), Vanshika Shah (Creative Content Strategist at Poetic Potato) and Kavya Mendiratta (Creative Manager at Namma Yatri). The initiative showcased how professional driving could be a path to empowerment for anyone, irrespective of their work experience, and combined professionals from all sectors to highlight the relevance of the profession in corporate, creative and technology-driven sectors.

This activation was designed to create a bigger impact on urban transportation in India as a whole. Although the number of women who are full-time drivers is still relatively low, more and more commuters, especially women, are opting for women drivers for safety and comfort reasons when travelling during the early morning and late evening. This imbalance of the number of passengers and the availability of female driver partners has emerged as a critical issue for mobility platforms looking to create more inclusive transportation ecosystems.

The initiative is a small step towards the firm's goal of promoting the mobility sector's gender representation, Namma Yatri said. The company has already been working towards women auto-rickshaw drivers with its Mahila Shakthi program, which has helped develop a bigger community of female driver partners. The current activation builds on this idea and has further extended the company's scope of operations to get more women to think about driving auto-rickshaws as a viable career option. The long term goal is to substantially expand its roster of women cab driver partners, and continue to build its current pool of women auto drivers.

In addition to job creation, Namma Yatri is a firm advocate of a more balanced and representative landscape of women motorists and its potential to enhance the inclusivity and accessibility of the urban transport system. In addition to women drivers having more opportunities to earn a living and pursue flexible and independent careers, more women driver partners would also enhance passengers' transportation choices in favor of women drivers.

The Bengaluru activation highlighted the reality of the profession, as opposed to the perception of it, by putting participants in a situation where they can learn more about it through first-hand experience, challenging stereotypes and promoting dignity, empowerment and flexibility in professional driving. Events like these aim to motivate more female passengers to join Namma Yatri's driver-partner community, and ultimately contribute to the future of urban India's mobility.