Lyft’s new feature lets women and non-binary riders request driver’s gender

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/business/lyft-women-nonbinary-drivers/index.html

by dbg31415 • 3 years ago

2 12 3 years ago

cnn.com

dbg314153• 3 years ago

I like this feature.

I also wish that there was also a feature for "old people" to select elder-friendly drivers.

ksaj3• 3 years ago

I'm not elderly yet. But I have a surgery-related profound hearing loss in one ear, which means I have a hearing aid for that. And much later I reached of the age where now I have TWO hearing aids, because of age related hearing loss along with loud rock-and-roll, that I now wear one in "the good ear."

I still don't want a louder driver.

dbg314153• 3 years ago

My dad has hearing aids. 100% this.

Hearing aids magnify sounds, so when people have hearing aids often talking slower, or talking facing them, is better.

Here's what happens for Dad.

He'll go up to the car, and and the driver will wave him off sitting in the front seat. I hate that moment. Dad always looks so sad. Dad is pushing 90, and I try as much as I can but sometimes I can't always take time off work to drive him places.

Anyway, the back seat is the worst place for Dad's hearing aids to work, since the driver is talking forward. And usually drivers have the radio on.

Then, the driver will say something, and Dad will come back with, "Pardon, I didn't catch that." (Or he'll just smile and nod.)

And, unless it's some other older person, the driver will then shout back what they just said.

This blows up Dad's hearing aids, and then Dad will be busy trying to adjust to compensate the volume.

It hurts to hear super loud sounds. It's just unpleasant. So at some point Dad just gets mad at the driver for shouting at him.

And the driver could have just said, "Nice weather we're having?" or he could have said, "Did you want to go to the front or back of the VA Hospital?" (The answer there could mean a 5 minute walk for Dad, through a busy parking lot.)

Dad has had drivers take him to the wrong address, even when I put the address in correctly. Who knows how that happens.

Now... the sensitive part, this is all so much worse with people who are non-native speakers. (But not nearly as bad as it is people from New York, or the East Coast in general -- accents and aggressively loud people are never a good mix.)

Dad really doesn't like trying to deal with language barriers on top of hearing aid issues, all while the driver is shouting at him.

They should have mandatory training for how to talk to people with hearing aids -- make sure every driver knows that raising their voice is not the way to do it.

But... that would require Uber / Lyft to care about the elderly, and they clearly don't Uber is basically non-functional when you try an use it with larger fonts on an iPhone. You can really tell how little shits someone gives about accessibility based on how their app works with non-default font sizes.

(Haven't used Uber in a year, disclaimer. I reported the issue about fonts like 20 times over 4 years and then just gave up on them.)

It sucks to get old. But it would be nice to have an "old people friendly" option on ride apps.

porkbeer• 3 years ago

Sexism by any other name.

Bostonian• 3 years ago

Considering which sex commits the vast majority of sexual assaults against women, it's not irrational for women to prefer not getting into the cars of male strangers, or for women drivers to prefer female passengers. FWIW I am male.

clipsy• 3 years ago

You feel the same about bathroom segregation, right?

version_five• 3 years ago

I don't see a problem with it, the real issue is going to be men "identifying" as women to get female drivers. Or drivers "identifying" as women. The whole thing doesn't make much sense if people are allowed to pick their sex.

cigcig• 3 years ago

True but this is a problem more generally. Unfortunately society is being turned this way whether we like it or not, with no thought to effective safeguarding, boundaries or consent.

ksaj3• 3 years ago

Pull the car over immediately if the passenger becomes sexual or problematic in any other way, and the taxi/limo/whatever ride is over. The camera is already engaged and has the reason clearly presented. The orange blinkenlight on the back is already blinking for others to intervene. That's what you're supposed to do in such situations as a driver.

ksaj3• 3 years ago

I don't know if you've ever been to a gym, but the ones I've been to all have a women's workout section. It's usually connected directly to the changeroom, so if you're allowed to use the women's changeroom, you also have access to the women's workout section.

I am unaware of men having an issue at the gym with such a layout.

These are quite overlapping norms that nobody truly has a problem with (except maybe gym builders, but I don't know any to ask.)

nowooski• 3 years ago

Wasn't there an entire ride share company predicated on this idea a few years ago?

dbg314153• 3 years ago

Cabracadabra, from BoJack Horseman. (=

https://bojackhorseman.fandom.com/wiki/Cabracadabra

Lyft’s new feature lets women and non-binary riders request driver’s gender

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