Problem Statement : 

Mumbai is the 4th most polluted major metropolitan region in the world in terms of air pollution and the air pollution is rising at an alarming rate of 64%. The city’s taxi drivers are integral to the urban mobility ecosystem in India, and since they drive in open taxis - they are exposed to the entirety of toxic elements in the air on an extensive basis in order to earn their daily wage.

Proposed Solution:

While the city and the country work on systemic solutions to reduce air pollution, the need of the hour is to work with the city’s taxi drivers to protect them in the interim. This is being achieved by a two-prong approach: use of air filtering face masks and creating awareness amongst taxi drivers. We distributed masks to them and also educated them on the benefits of wearing these. 

We also surveyed >50 taxi drivers to understand the perception and value addition of the nose masks and validated hypothesis for the project.

Impact :

We distributed masks to 80+ drivers.

We spent time spreading awareness on air pollution and the need for protection. This was done prior to masks becoming important in post covid era.