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A Female-Friendly Uber Alternative Launches In Boston, Look For Safr

Hailing a taxi can be dangerous in some countries, and the same can be said for ride sharing in some places.
Safr described by its founders 7 photos
Photo: gosafr.com
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The modern world is full of people who have no problem in harming others, and getting in a car with a stranger in the hope that he or she will drive you to the desired destination can be considered a leap of faith.

Things get even more complicated when you are tired or intoxicated after a night in the city, and you just want to get home. We have all been there at a point in our lives, but not all of us have been in the same kind of danger.

It is no secret that it is more dangerous for a female to ride in a taxi, hitchhike, or use a ride-sharing service. The same applies when a person of this gender is a driver in one of these situations. These dangers should not exist in a healthy society, but we do not live in a normal world, and things must be done in that direction.

Until authorities figure out how to keep deviated individuals from driving other people in their cars under the shelter of a ride-sharing service or a taxi, a start-up company in Boston has a solution. They call it Safr, and it stands for “Safer,” as you have probably noticed as you were reading this.

The idea behind the ride-sharing start-up is to focus on background checks for the drivers, along with the option, for every user involved, to select the gender of rider or driver that will share a car with them, Curbed notes.

The latter might appear as gender-biased, but male users are welcome to enter the system as their female counterparts. Furthermore, the service plans to expand by allowing children to ride to and from school, for example, in a safe and friendly vehicle.

Safr plans to help woman drivers share their car with female users, if that is what they desire, in the hope that the service will be safer for all involved. The competitors of this service could have done this long ago, simply by introducing thorough vetting and background checks.

On top of this feature, the app has a built-in safety feature. It can call the service’s 24-Hour command service, call emergency services, or send a text message to a pre-assigned contact. Moreover, there’s no chance of confusing your passenger or driver because both of them get color-coded messages during pickups.

According to Joanna Humphrey Flynn, a PR and marketing manager for Safr, the average ride with their service costs about 10% more than an UberX, but this happens because their workforce is better paid, and they also focus more on training their drivers and vetting them. A comparison with Lyft fares or taxi fares has not been made by the representatives of Safr.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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