Lyft debuts feature for women, nonbinary drivers and riders to match with each other
Ride-hailing company Lyft is rolling out a new feature that will allow women drivers to choose female riders in a move to both improve safety and encourage more women to sign up as drivers.
The company said its Women+ Connect feature will match women and nonbinary drivers with more women and nonbinary riders. The preference setting on the Lyft app debuted on Tuesday and the San Francisco-based firm said it had been highly requested by its users.
As the feature goes live for users, both drivers and riders will be prompted to select the feature to increase their chances of matching with each other. Drivers with the preference on will still be matched with men riders If there are not any women or nonbinary riders nearby,
According to Lyft, while women make up nearly half of Lyft riders, they account for just 23% of drivers on the Lyft platform.
The Women+ Connect feature will start out in the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Phoenix and Chicago, with other cities to follow, Lyft said.