Uber Launched a Women-Only Service. Will It Work?
20 hours ago
- #ride-hailing
- #gender-equality
- #safety
- Uber launched a pilot program called Women Preferences to match women passengers with women drivers, addressing safety concerns.
- Safety issues in ride-hailing affect both passengers and drivers, with reports of sexual assault and misconduct.
- The program, initially introduced in Saudi Arabia in 2019, has expanded to 40 countries, including the U.S.
- A challenge in the U.S. is ensuring enough women drivers to meet demand without increasing wait times.
- Lyft has a similar program, Women+ Connect, which has shown early success in increasing female driver participation.
- Uber may need to incentivize female drivers to work during peak times when demand from women passengers is high.
- The matching algorithms in ride-hailing apps consider multiple factors beyond proximity, making the process complex.
- Lindsey Cameron, a Wharton professor, supports these initiatives and is interested in studying their outcomes.