The Uber by Women option overseas comes at no extra cost but with potentially longer waiting times. Photo / Jakub Porzycki, NurPhoto, Getty Images
The Uber by Women option overseas comes at no extra cost but with potentially longer waiting times. Photo / Jakub Porzycki, NurPhoto, Getty Images
Two rival ride-hailing platforms have announced options allowing Parisian women to order a car driven by a female driver in a bid to ensure “greater safety” for customers.
The “Uber by Women” option, available from Thursday, comes at no extra cost but with potentially longer waiting times.
Uber launched asimilar scheme in other European countries as the company grapples with a litany of sexual assault or harassment claims against their drivers.
The change will ensure “greater safety” for its women customers, said Uber, with some 1500 female drivers already available in Paris.
There is a reminder on the app that the option is for women only, and drivers can cancel if a man tries to use it, the platform told AFP.
“Waiting times ... could be higher than with other options, 15 minutes on average compared to four minutes” for a standard order, Uber said.
But the ride-share company also hopes the change will attract more women drivers by offering them a “substantial reduction” on the fees charged for each ride.
Uber by Women is an “excellent way of increasing the attractiveness of the ride-hailing profession to women who would otherwise not consider it”, said Uber’s head in France, Laureline Serieys.
