Lyft is helping its passengers and drivers feel more secure with every ride by adding Women+ Connect, a new preference feature that’ll be used to match women and non-binary drivers to other drivers and passengers of the same sex.
This feature offers passengers the option to prioritize finding drivers who are women or non-binary, according to Lyft’s official website. When a passenger is looking for a ride with the feature enabled, a message reading “count me in” will pop up on the screen.
If there are no women or nonbinary drivers available, a passenger will still be matched with a man, as Women+ Connect is a prioritization feature, not a guarantee.
Microbiology freshman Nicole Gabriel, said she has already used the Women+ Connect feature.
Gabriel said one of the many benefits of this feature is that more women and nonbinary people will start to use Lyft.
“I found out that same day I could possibly have a female driver which was an added bonus to the ride,” Gabriel said.
She said while using Uber there have been countless times where she felt uncomfortable while riding with male drivers.
The Lyft Community Safety Report stated in 2019 that there were 1,041 reports of non-consensual touching of a sexual body part, and 156 reports of non-consensual sexual penetration during rides according to a Community Safety Report released by Lyft.
Music composition sophomore Sheyn Allison Muncada, said she doesn’t think this feature will do any harm.
Muncada also said she thinks other ride-sharing apps should implement the same feature.
“I think other applications should really consider [adding a similar option], because being in a car with someone you don’t know can be very vulnerable and nerve-wracking,” Muncada said. “It would just ease a lot of worries overall.”
According to a 2018 Uber Safety Report, there were 1,560 incident reports for the category ‘Non-Consensual Touching of a Sexual Body Part’ and 594 incident reports for ‘Non-Consensual Kissing of a Non-Sexual Body part.’
Like Muncada, communications senior Ana Mendoza also said she thinks Uber and similar transportation companies should have an option such as the Women+ Connect, but said she can see potential issues for male drivers.
“Some negatives [about Women+ Connect], might be male drivers feeling now they’re not going to make as much money,” Mendoza said.
There are currently five cities where the Women+ Connect feature has launched; Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and San José according to Lyft’s website.
The website said customers should expect to see more cities become available soon, with other promised features as well, according to the same website.
Lyft plans to release and create more improvements such as scheduled rides, airport pickups and riding filters in the upcoming months, according to the same website.
“Women+ Connect is all about providing more women and nonbinary people the opportunity to earn money on their terms and giving riders more choice,” Risher said.
