Women who feel uneasy getting into a car with a male taxi driver will have a new option starting this month: a taxi service with all-female drivers that is specifically for female riders.
Available in New York City, Westchester County and Long Island starting Sept. 16, SheTaxis will work through an iOS app and automatically check if potential customers have a woman in their party, the New York Times reported. Men who aren't with a woman will be redirected to another car service.
SheTaxis, which will operate as SheRides in New York City since regulations don't allow "taxi" in a car service name, will feature drivers who wear hot pink pashmina scarves. The app should be available for Android devices in the near future.
New York City has around 60,000 drivers for hire working in livery cars, green cabs, limousines and luxury sedans. Of those drivers, just 2,952 of them, or 5 percent, are women, the Times reported.
A service with only female drivers is good news for groups like Hasidic women in Williamsburg who will only ride with women. Miriam Malave has been a driver in Brooklyn for more than 30 years and can't keep up with the number of such requests, she told the Times.
The 54-year-old livery driver still weathers discrimination from men with remarks like "This is a man's job. Go home and cook," she said.
Women and men alike seem to be supportive of the new female-friendly service.
Bronx resident Gibson Pierrelouis, 22, thinks it's fine he won't be using SheRides--he's in favor of the new service for his six sisters, he told the Times.
SheTaxis was created by Stella Mateo, a mother of two daughters and wife to Fernando, the founder of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers. She sees the service both as a safer way for women to travel and as something that will bring more women into a male-dominated industry. Mateo hopes to expand the service to Washington, Miami and Chicago in the next year.
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