On Tuesday, Lyft introduced a brand new characteristic that can join girls and nonbinary riders with different feminine and nonbinary drivers to create a safer and assured expertise. The characteristic, referred to as Girls+ Join, will permit riders to decide on to match with comparable drivers which Lyft says was a “extremely requested characteristic.”
This characteristic will supply “extra management over the driving and using expertise for girls and nonbinary folks, permitting them to really feel that rather more assured,” Lyft stated in a information launch. “With fewer boundaries for drivers (and potential drivers), extra girls can entry versatile incomes alternatives — whether or not they’re driving to construct a enterprise, help their household, or just to get pleasure from incomes good cash whereas assembly nice folks,” the discharge added.
Feminine riders make up virtually half of all Lyft riders, the corporate stated, however girls make up solely 23% of drivers on Lyft’s platform, based on a latest survey. Now, the Lyft app provides a immediate for riders to pick the Girls+ Join possibility by deciding on “Rely me in” when ordering a experience.
“Simply on your personal peace of thoughts, the power to decide on a girl driver may be precisely the factor that lets you say, you already know what, yeah, this actually is making my life higher,” Lyft CEO David Risher stated on The At present Present.
The newly added characteristic comes as buyers and customers push Lyft and Uber to extend their security protections after Lyft reported greater than 4,000 claims of sexual assault between 2017 and 2019 and has confronted associated lawsuits claiming the corporate has prevented legal responsibility for sexual assault. In April, SOC Funding Group knowledgeable Lyft it wants to ascertain a course of that will create further security for drivers.
Lyft’s failure “to acknowledge and tackle authentic driver security considerations can have numerous unlucky penalties for the corporate, together with elevated turnover charges and recruitment prices, elevated insurance coverage bills, litigation, and additional scrutiny from regulators,” Tejal Patel, govt director at SOC, stated in a letter to Lyft.
Girls+ Join will initially launch in early-access cities together with Chicago, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose, and Lyft says it intends to roll out extra cities quickly. Nonetheless, the corporate does make clear that the Girls+ Join characteristic “is a choice characteristic, not a assure.” When the characteristic is chosen, feminine and nonbinary drivers shall be prioritized, but when none can be found, the app will revert to match the rider with a male driver.
“Girls+ Join is all about offering extra girls and nonbinary folks the chance to earn cash on their phrases and giving riders extra selection,” Risher stated within the information launch. “We hope this offers thousands and thousands of drivers and riders one more reason to decide on Lyft.”
