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  Metros   Mumbai  02 Dec 2017  Safety app sees poor response

Safety app sees poor response

THE ASIAN AGE.
Published : Dec 2, 2017, 2:00 am IST
Updated : Dec 2, 2017, 2:00 am IST

The WR is now trying to ascertain the reason behind lack of popularity of the app.

The logo of the app.
 The logo of the app.

Mumbai: More than two months have passed since the Western Railway (WR) launched its mobile app for women ‘Eye Watch’ but not a single woman has used it, yet. Launched on September 26, the mobile app was meant to be a tool for women commuters to seek help when they felt threatened. The app uses alerts in the form of audio sent to the control room at Mumbai Central but there has been no such complaint or alert sent out by any woman commuter so far, said officials. The WR is now trying to ascertain the reason behind lack of popularity of the app, whether it is not user friendly or women are just not aware of it.

An official said, “It is not that women do not have the will to complain or inform. In fact, we have received around 10 to 15 calls from women on our exclusive helpline since the app was launched but somehow, it hasn’t translated into alerts through Eye Watch which was essentially meant for such complaints.”

Meanwhile, women commuters said that while they were aware that some kind of app had been launched, they had no clue about how it worked. Shrutika Maheshwari (26), an image consultant, who travels from Bandra to Andheri every day, said, “To be honest, I am not even sure if the app will work. The helpline is not very helpful anyway because by the time they decide which security personnel will attend to the complaint, the train has already passed two stations.”

Interestingly, Eye Watch is the first of its kind app launched on the Mumbai suburban as most other apps are limited to train timings and alerts about disruptions of any kind.

Tags: western railway, eye watch app