Chariot for Women is a new woman-only rideshare service launched by a former Uber driver who had a bad run-in with a hulking drunk dude that made him realize how scary things must be for woman riders and drivers both.
The service will only pick up women and children of any gender, providing they are under the age of 13. It guarantees that a part of every fare will go to a worthy charity.
This is in contrast to Uber, which has developed a well-deserved reputation for looting communities, exploiting its labor pool, and sidelining safety in favor of profits.
Chariot sounds like a good idea, but I can foresee some hard questions it will have to answer, including, but not limited to:
* What about transwomen, nonbinary people, and other people whom the users and drivers of the service might not immediately recognize as (or prejudicially deny the status of) women?
* The "no male kids over 13" has all the problems of above, and with the age thing besides. Will mothers travelling with their trans- or non-binary-identified kids have to "prove" that they are not boys? How will that work? What about proving age? Do parents have to travel with birth certificates?
* What about mothers who rely on the service to travel with their kids: when their sons turn 14, are they out of luck? Do they leave their sons behind?
According to BuzzFeed News, a former Uber customer service representative (CSR) provided screenshots of a search query of the Uber database, in which driver tickets are stored. The results are disturbing. A search for the words "sexual assault" returned 6,160 tickets, and the search "rape" returned 5,827 individual tickets.
Now does that make you uncomfortable, even if you may not have experienced a threat first hand? Good, because it should.
Here's something that will give you your comfort back. On April 19, the app Chariot for Women is launching, and the creators of the app think that you shouldn't have to put up with an uncomfortable ride ever again. We couldn't agree more.
Here are the top reasons why you should abandon your Uber and arrive in a Chariot.
Here's Why Women Everywhere Will Delete Uber On April 19
[Sara Driscoll/Dose]
(Thanks, Noemi!)
