New Delhi — At 6 am every day, a green bus on line 543 from Sarojini Nagar to Anand swings out of a Delhi Transport Corporation depot and heads on to the chaotic streets.

It looks like any of the other 5,000 public buses fighting their way through Delhi’s rickshaws, trucks, bicycles, cars and occasional elephants. But at the wheel is Saritha Vankadarath, the first woman to drive a bus in the seething city of 17 million people.

Vankadarath, 30, who started work last month and, has faced no major difficulties so far, barring the occasional jammed door and Delhi’s toxic smog.

“Some [passengers] get surprised when they see me,” Vankadarath said. “But I think they all feel safe with a woman driver on board. Many people compliment me while getting off the bus by saying: ‘You drive well.’”

The effort to hire female drivers is part of a campaign by authorities to fight endemic sexual harassment on buses and public transport in general.

Delhi is the fourth most dangerous city in the world for women travelling on public transport, according to one recent survey. Only Bogotá, Mexico City and Lima were found to be worse than the Indian capital.

The gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old attacked on a bus in December 2012 prompted grief and outrage across India, with thousands taking to the streets demanding tougher laws, better policing, safer public transport and a shift in cultural attitudes. The UN asked India, the world’s second most populous country, to ensure security for women.

The woman was assaulted on a private unlicensed bus as she and her friend returned from watching a film in the south of India’s capital.

In one incident last year, two girls won praise after they fought back against youths who had been harassing them on a bus running between villages an hour’s drive from Delhi.

Women complain of facing a barrage of suggestive remarks and gestures, known locally as “eve-teasing”, on every journey.

“They touch you, or say things, or just look at you in that way all the time,” said Ayesha Shah, a 20-year-old medical student, as she waited for a bus in the east of Delhi. “If they respect the woman driver, maybe they will respect the women passengers too.”

India remains a deeply conservative society but cities in particular have seen rapid change in recent years, with more women working and travelling alone than ever before.

Vankadarath said that with “so much violence against women these days, women need to stand up”.

“I’m trying to do my job well and hopefully I will inspire other women to come forward and take up jobs which are always done by men. [It] gives more confidence to women travellers. Many women passengers have told me this and congratulated me. They say women face a lot of harassment on buses, so having a women driver just might make things easier.”

Transport officials say they published advertisements in local newspapers seeking female candidates. Seven applications were received and five candidates showed up for the interviews but four subsequently failed a medical examination. Vankadarath spent four weeks training and a day learning her route.

Her story, despite her untypical occupation, is that of millions of others – men and women – in Delhi. Vankadarath comes from a village about 900 miles away, in a remote part of the poor southern state of Telangana. The youngest of five daughters, she left school at 16 to take over her father’s motorized rickshaw when he fell sick, earning enough to pay for his treatment and the marriage of a sister.

She then moved to Delhi, which sucks in vast numbers of rural migrants seeking an escape from the crushing poverty of the fields or dead-end small towns, and now earns 22,000 rupees every month for a 48-hour week.

There have been female drivers elsewhere in India for some time; however, most authorities have problems attracting recruits. Recent advertisements in Andhra Pradesh for more than 4,500 posts for female bus drivers received not a single applicant. One official said this might have been because of the height requirement and the need to have a heavy goods driving licence.

Vankadarath’s new colleagues have been supportive.

“We feel very good to have a lady bus driver among us. We would like more women to join us,” said Rajinder Singh, 58, who has been driving buses in Delhi since 1982. “Many lady passengers say that they would like to have a woman bus driver. My advice to her will be: keep your head cool. Don’t speak to passengers or get into any sort of argument with them. Just do your job and feel that you are doing a great service to society.”

A lack of investment over decades means Delhi’s public transport system is grossly inadequate, despite a new metro system that is being expanded. There are only 4,500 buses. London has twice as many, moving much more quickly, for half as many inhabitants. A massive increase in cars in Delhi in recent decades and acute congestion have contributed to the city suffering the worst air pollution in the world.

Vankadarath sees herself as a pioneer for women throughout India. “I want to say: if a woman wants to do something, she can do. Men and women are equal and they should always be equal in every sphere of life. Women have the capacity, strength and the power to do anything. You just need to be brave.”

(This article appeared in The Guardian on May 10, 2015)