Lyft launches new characteristic pairing girls and nonbinary riders and drivers

When Lyft driver Maria V. picks up one other girl, she feels “a mutual understanding, like ‘woman code.’”

Now, girls and nonbinary Lyft drivers have the choice to pick out a rider of the identical gender by way of the app’s characteristic: Ladies+ Join.

Ladies comprise 23% of the Lyft driver inhabitants, but almost half of riders, in keeping with a current survey from the corporate, and this “extremely requested characteristic” now affords a way of consolation when touring.

“Ladies+ Join is all about offering extra girls and nonbinary individuals the chance to earn cash on their phrases and giving riders extra selection,” Lyft CEO David Risher mentioned in a press release. 

“We hope this provides hundreds of thousands of drivers and riders one more reason to decide on Lyft.”

Within the app, riders can decide to “depend me in” because the characteristic makes an attempt to match them with girls and nonbinary drivers.

Whereas there’s no assure that the system will join drivers and riders of the identical gender each time, the in-app characteristic has been hailed as an vital step in direction of extra security and comfortability.

“It’s encouraging to see how Lyft developed the Ladies+ Join characteristic — this new characteristic will make girls really feel extra snug driving,” mentioned retired sheriff John Whetsel, who serves because the chair of the Nationwide Sheriffs’ Affiliation Visitors Security Committee.

On-line, some pundits have praised the transfer by Lyft, together with one user who described the brand new few characteristic as “superior.”

Nevertheless, others railed towards the transfer, claiming it might be a slippery slope.

“Can’t look forward to the segregation by race,” one stated.

“Subsequent you’ll have the ability to choose primarily based on race or faith,” another jeered.

The characteristic, which will likely be out there early in Chicago, Phoenix, San Jose, San Diego and San Francisco, arrives amid an alarming variety of assaults on each rideshare drivers and passengers.

On-line, girls have shared their security hacks when utilizing providers like Uber, particularly planting their DNA within the backseat.

One TikToker put strands of hair and fingerprint marks in varied locations to make sure legislation enforcement would discover them ought to she ever go lacking.

From 2017 to 2019, Lyft reported 10 deaths and 4,158 circumstances of sexual assault, together with 360 rapes, in keeping with the corporate’s 2021 Group Security Report.

On the time, Lyft, which conducts annual background checks on drivers, vowed to “constantly enhance security for riders and drivers.”