Lyft launches new app feature that allows women passengers to choose women drivers

After finding out that 6,000 women were assaulted in Ubers between 2017 and 2019 from a publicly-released Uber report, Atlanta ride-share driver Jillian Anderson created a women-only option back in 2019. The ride-share is called “Her-Ride” and the ride-share app focuses on keeping women safe and offering a solution for women to request only female drivers. 

As of 2022, Uber reported that 998 sexual assault incidents, including 141 rape reports, occurred in 2020, per CNN. While Anderson definitely filled a need for women’s safety when it comes to ride-sharing in Atlanta, now popular ride-share app Lyft is taking this a step further. 

Starting in Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose, the ride-share company will roll out their own spin on this ride-share option to ensure women feel safe beginning in September. Lyft has created the Women+Connect preference feature, which matches women, transgender and nonbinary drivers and riders. 

This feature offers more control over the driving experience for women, trans and nonbinary people, not only as riders, but as drivers, too. Per the Lyft press release, “While women make up nearly half of Lyft riders, they account for just 23% of drivers on the Lyft platform, based on a recent survey.” 

It makes sense that many women may not feel safe driving passengers—complete strangers—alone at night.

“And with fewer barriers to driving, more women can access flexible earning opportunities — whether they’re driving to build a business, support their family, or simply to enjoy earning good money while meeting great people,” the press release noted.

This is great news and may open the door for women, trans and non-binary people to get in on this growing industry. The global value of the ride-sharing market is expected to reach $285 billion by 2030, according to statistics from Gitnux. 

Women+Connect allows women and non-binary drivers to choose to match with more women and non-binary riders. This feature you can turn on in the app allows users to select this option to prioritize matches with other women and non-binary drivers close by.

“Women+ Connect is all about providing more women and nonbinary people the opportunity to earn money on their terms and giving riders more choice,” said Lyft CEO David Risher in the press release. “We hope this gives millions of drivers and riders another reason to choose Lyft.”

This can offer more earning opportunities for women, trans and non-binary people, as they’ll be able to feel safer and more confident in their safety with the passengers they pick up. 

As told to Atlanta’s WSB-TV by Anderson, “A lot of women who work second shift and nightlife in Atlanta would say, Hey I would schedule a ride and cancel a ride until I got a woman.’”

This new Lyft feature will make it easier to do just that. 

While safety incidents are pretty rare according to Lyft’s most recently available Community Safety Report (though the last published available version is from 2017 to 2019), this Women+Connect feature along with their other safety features—which includes users being able to share their location with friends and family, connecting directly with Lyft support, and being able to quickly access emergency assistance from the Lyft app—will be a huge help in ensuring everyone’s safety.

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