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An Atlanta woman is trying to make it safer for all women to get around. After Lyft and Uber released scary statistics about thousands of sexual assaults reported during rides in their vehicles, Jillian Anderson was inspired to launch a rideshare service just for women. As a former driver for both Uber and Lyft, she says she wanted to give women an alternative option.
So she started Her Ride, a company focused on keeping women safe. Anderson used her background in computer science to help her develop the company that caters just to women. All of the drivers for Her Ride are women, a feature many women appreciate. She says when she was driving for Uber and Lyft, women would often wait for a female driver, scheduling and canceling rides until they got a woman driver.
The all-female team of drivers can pick up men, but only if they feel safe doing so. “I put my drivers first,” Anderson explains. “They’re the bread and butter of the company, so if they don’t feel comfortable, they don’t get penalized for it.” " target="_blank">Her Ride currently only has about 60 drivers, but the goal is to get a thousand in the Atlanta area. And Anderson feels like she’s making a difference by keeping women safe while providing a service. “It makes me feel like what I created was actually needed,” she says. “I just wanted to create a safe place for women.”