Girls are still having uncomfortable ride-hailing app experiences

Ride-hailing apps like Uber are great. Long gone are the days of walking up to sketchy cigarette smelling taxi cabs parked at the side of the road before desperately scrambling for cash as you watch your ride price rise pass your expectations. Well, it is great until you find yourself getting picked up by your 4.5 star driver who insists on taking your number and getting together another night, or worse, that night.

Since Uber’s establishment in 2012, the company has found itself in the middle of many accusations internationally ranging from kidnappings, sexual assaults, rapes, and murders among the worst. Such accusations have put public pressure on Uber and other ride-hailing apps to create more strict and extensive background checks on their drivers. Just last March, the company settled for at least $10 million in a driver background-check case in California.

Of course, not all drivers are bad – many are very hospitable. Yet with so many riders reporting they have had bad experiences, it can be safe to say that the benefit of being able to know who the driver is beforehand and their rating is not necessarily good enough at keeping riders safe. That, of course, is the problem when many riders, especially women, rely on the apps to get them from one location to another safely with the expectation that their driver will not take advantage of them.

There have been some efforts outside the company on making riding safer for women such as SafeHer, the more women friendly alternative created by an ex-Uber driver. However, that doesn’t make up for the fact that women should feel safe in any ride-hailing vehicle, whether they be passenger or driver.

Because we usually only hear of extreme cases of terrible experiences, it could be easy to dismiss how common harassment can be. We asked some regular app users to tell us some of their experiences.

The bar stalker

So basically a guy sent me an Uber to meet him on a date an hour away, and when the Uber came to get me from my campus, the driver immediately started flirting with me and asked me where I was going, so I told him I was going on a date and he said he hopes the date goes wrong so I can come back to him. He gave me his number. I was too scared to say anything rude so I kept talking to him even though he was making me uncomfortable. He asked me if I ever go to any of the bars on my campus and I said yes. He asked which one was my favorite so I told him. A couple weeks later I went to that bar and he was there and he followed me around and told me he’s been going there every weekend since I told him I go there to look for me. – Gigi, 20.

The rape jokester

Man. Once, the driver mentioned that there had been a lot of instances of kidnappings and rapes by cab drivers in the recent past, and then when he pulled off into a kind of weird spot to drop me off he joked, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna rape you.” Another driver once made small talk about his prostate exam. Mostly I’ve had good experiences and good conversations, and it seems like drivers are usually male, but those incidents stand out. But for the record, I almost always use Lyft and not Uber unless absolutely necessary because Lyft does more extensive background checks on their drivers and their rates are more reasonable in my opinion. – *Aileen.

The persistent 4.7

I remember this clearly because it was my first Uber ride. I got a 4.7 star driver. During the ride he kept asking deeper and deeper personal questions and made me feel extremely uncomfortable. He asked where I work, who I live with, how old I am, am I single, and what type of man I like. At first I gave him vague answers because I thought it was small talk, such as I live in “this general area with some people.” But when he asked about my dating situation, I told him I’m not comfortable answering and remained quiet. He still kept going and didn’t get the hint! I gave him a one-star rating and reported him to Uber. They only gave me a scripted “sorry” answer and a credit amount. I felt extremely uncomfortable during the ride and was scared that he would become a creepy stalker. – *Beth, Mid-20s.

The roofie familiar passengers (driver experience)

I’ve only had one awkward experience situation with two men (in their 30s) I picked up in San Clemente. They got in my car and one of them sat on the passenger seat. Usually I have my pepper spray in my cup holder at all times, but this time I had it on my lap. Why? Because I could tell they were both drunk and the way they talked made me feel really uncomfortable. The man next to me was jokingly saying how he would roofie a girl’s drink at a bar so he can take her home and do inappropriate things to her. The other man in the back said to me, “Make sure he doesn’t roofie your water bottle.” At this point, I fake laughed and changed the subject by asking them how was their night [was] going. The man next to me replied, “I would if she wasn’t driving.” I immediately pulled over and told them, “You guys have two options: I can easily report you guys right now or quit harassing me and let me do my job?!” They both apologized and stayed quiet until I dropped them off at their destination. – Meli, 22.

The concerned but condescending acknowledger

This won’t be near as bad as what other people will say, I’m sure, but it made me very uncomfortable. Right after the Stanford rape victim’s testimony came out, I was in an Uber and the driver asked me if I drink alcohol. I said yes. Then he asked if I’d heard about the Stanford case. When I said yes, he said something along the lines of “it’s not safe for young girls like you to go out drinking, you can’t take care of yourself and terrible things can happen.” Not exactly the thing you should say to a woman you do not know who is currently in a vulnerable, isolated situation with you. Not to mention it was condescending, inappropriately paternalistic and victim-blaming. Thankfully it was a short ride and that was the extent of our interaction. – Emily, 24.

The butt-hurt water provider

He was driving fast and got insulted that my friend and I just didn’t want any of the bottle waters. He was like, “Why don’t you want the water? You’re too good for my water.”  We were laughing at first, but then we noticed that he wasn’t joking. – Taylor, 22

*Names have been changed for those who wished to remain anonymous.