RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Uber announced on Thursday, October 24th, the program “Elas na Direção” (“They [female] are Driving”), which will enable female drivers to select trips exclusively for female passengers.
The program is effective from the first week of November in three cities: Campinas, Curitiba, and Fortaleza. The initiative will be expanded to other cities in Brazil where the app operates next year.
With the ‘U-elas’ (U-they [female]) tool, female Uber drivers will be able to turn on and off the option of trips with female passengers at any time.
This project is part of a company initiative to attract more women to the platform. According to Claudia Woods, Uber director in Brazil, only six percent of the 600,000 partner drivers in Brazil are women.
The final aim of the program is to also allow female passengers to choose only female drivers. “But this will only be possible when we have a larger number of women driving,” said Woods.
According to her, Uber found that the main concerns of women to start driving on the platform are safety (mentioned by 64 percent of them) and difficulty in accessing a car (mentioned by 36 percent).
Therefore, the company has also entered into a partnership with Localiza rental company, so that women in the partner cities may have access to a car at reduced costs and without the need for a credit card. In other cities, there will be a ten percent discount for female partner drivers.
According to Tatiana Rocha, the marketing director of Localiza, the company already has a specific rental program for app drivers.
“We have been offering a product since 2018 that allows the payment of rent with Uber’s earnings and weekly payments. Discounts for women are added to this,” said Tatiana.
Localiza will take the partnership to other cities as the program is expanded by Uber.
The “Elas na Direção” program also appeals to new drivers, such as the guarantee of a minimum income of R$1,500 in the first 100 trips, as well as access to an Uber partnership program, which is valid for all partner drivers, with discounts in gyms, educational institutions and plans and discount in medical and laboratory tests.
Source: G1