The problem of sexual harassment isn’t restricted to subway cars. There have been many reports of sexual harassment by male taxi drivers with female passengers in China and a few other countries such as India. In many of these cases, the harassment doesn’t stop at a little pushing and shoving, as they do on subway cars, but may end in serious harm, the rape case that happened in Delhi last December for example, in which the Uber driver managed to park the car at a secluded spot and raped the passenger.
According to Yibida an English language news site, Kuaidi One just launched a “female drivers only” add-on to its taxi-hailing app in April. When the option is selected, only cars operated by female drivers will be called for service. Mr. Xiao, the general manager of Kuaidi One, believes that this it will bring female passengers a much safer commuting option late at night.
“Many middle-class women now get off work really late, so we hope the service can bring this group of customers a safe and comfortable choice of transportation,” he says.
Only those who registered as female users can access to this option, and it’s only available from 7pm to 3am. To use this service, first download Kuaidi One (Yihao Zhuanche) on your phone. Be sure to select “female" (女士) as your gender.
Every day between 7pm and 3 am, you’ll see the option “women-only cars" (女士专车) in the interface, the one with a Venus symbol in the picture below.
Once you choose “female-only cars”, the rest of the procedures stay all the same. First set up a time (用车时间). Then fill in your current location and destination. Finally click on “select car model (去选车)” on the bottom, and you are ready to go.
Screenshots by Patrick Li
