Uber expands women-only ride feature to Salt Lake City
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Uber is rolling out its Women Preferences tool in Salt Lake, the ride-hailing company announced Wednesday.
Why it matters: Safety and comfort have long been top concerns for women who use rideshare services, both as riders and as drivers.
- Uber cited 2,717 cases of sexual assault and misconduct between 2021 and 2022 in its latest U.S. safety report, which was published in August 2024.
Zoom in: Multiple rideshare drivers have been accused of assault in Salt Lake County, including September kidnapping and rape charges in Sandy.
Catch up quick: Uber launched the tool in July in three cities, allowing riders and drivers who are not men the option to be matched with women for trips.
- It's similar to Lyft's Women+ Connect service, which rolled out nationwide last year and lets women and nonbinary riders and drivers pair up.
Driving the news: Uber is expanding Women Preferences to 26 additional cities, including SLC, and making it available to teen riders for the first time.
How it works: Women riders can choose "women drivers" when requesting a ride and set a permanent preference for women drivers.
- Women drivers can limit requests to women only, even during high-demand hours.
- The feature is also open to nonbinary people, but the company says users' gender must be set to "woman" in the Uber app or the Driver app.
Friction point: The feature has sparked backlash from conservative groups and a class-action lawsuit by male drivers in California who say it discriminates against men and limits their earning opportunities, per Time.
Flashback: Uber first introduced a version of this feature in Saudi Arabia in 2019, shortly after women gained the legal right to drive.
- Since then, it has expanded to 40 countries and powered more than 100 million trips globally.
By the numbers: Women drivers make up about 1 in 5 Uber drivers in the U.S.