At the end of 2019, the ride-sharing app Uber reported more than 3,000 sexual assaults occurred during rides through the platform in 2018. Many posts have gone viral following accounts from women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community who have dealt with attacks from their drivers across social media platforms. To combat this growing problem, two Georiga-based woman entrepreneurs decided to take the initiative and create a new ride-share platform aimed at protecting these groups from these kinds of attacks during their riding experiences.
Kiersten Harris and Jillian Anderson are the founders of HERide, the ride-share app designed for women based in Georiga with the motive of creating both a safer and more relaxing experience for riders. The company describes itself as “a female friendly rideshare company committed to getting women from Point A to Point B without the hassle.”
“Our motto is ‘Choose to be unbothered.’ We wanted to create a platform for women to feel safe and welcome,” Harris said in an interview with Reckon. “Starting in an already established industry doesn’t mean you have to recreate the wheel. We wanted to improve the rideshare system for women, so we looked for ways to do that.”
In addition to its improved riding experience, the app also works to combat sex trafficking with additional features to increase security including doing thorough background checks of all drivers before they can be approved to join the platform with a cap on the number that can join.“Everything is based on our own experience,” Harris adds. “We all know people who have been stalked, bothered, or even almost kidnapped during a ride or while driving.”