It's Bullsh*t That Women Can't Request Female Drivers On Lyft And Uber

This Lyft story is horrifying and further proof that ride share companies are not keeping their customers safe

Lyft needs to get its sh*t together, immediately. Anna Gillcrist, an actress and writer, took to Twitter to share a terrifying story about her experience with a creepy driver and the completely awful, dismissive way that it was handled by a customer service agent. This is all further proof that women should be allowed to request female drivers on Lyft and Uber, in order to avoid danger situations and sexual harassment.

Gillcrist took a shared Lyft home after a friend’s bachelorette party and everything was fine until the two people in the car left, leaving her alone with the driver.

“Once they were dropped off, the driver immediately leaned over to me and asks ‘do you have a boyfriend?’ I paused, and didn’t respond,” Gillcrist tweeted. “He asks again, “come on do you have a boyfriend?” I said yes. He continued to ask me questions about what he did, and what I did. Then he asks, ‘is your boyfriend in town?’ I didn’t respond. He asks again. I don’t respond.”

The driver pulled up to her street and started to drive very slowly. He then asked Gillcrist if her boyfriend was home. “I immediately realized the doors were locked and I said ‘please unlock the doors,'” He didn’t,” she wrote. “So I pried the lock up, jumped out of the car, and ran to my apartment.”

So, how did Lyft handle their driver’s horrifically scary and dangerous behavior? Terribly. Just terribly.

Gillcrist called the company and the customer service representative told her that the driver would never be able to pick her up again. She then explained that that was not good enough and this creepy, deeply inappropriate driver should not be able to pick up anyone.

“He just said ‘don’t worry he will be reprimanded,’” Gillcrist wrote. “Then he gave me a $5 credit, and told me he would be emailing me the official report. I have received no email. I’ve been sitting on my bed thinking about this for hours and I am fucking angry.”

Gillcrist explained she will not let the issue go until it’s properly addressed. After all, this guy is still driving around in his car, picking up women, and potentially putting them in this same terrifying situation.

“I want more than a stupid $5 credit,” she tweeted. “Your driver put me in a scenario in which I thought I might be kidnapped, raped, or even killed. That pathetic attempt to mask a serious issue is insulting to me and women everywhere who have to deal with this shit on a regular basis.”

Gillcrist’s thread pulled in almost 34,000 likes and more than 15,000 retweets and all of a sudden *surprise surprise* Lyft took notice.

“Anna, we are so sorry you experienced this,” the company tweeted. “Behavior like you reported is not allowed on the Lyft platform, and we find reports like this very concerning. We immediately took action as soon as we received your tweet and a member of our safety team will be in touch soon.”

People on Twitter were less than impressed by Lyft’s delayed action. They also slammed the company for not taking women’s safety seriously.

It’s incredibly disappointing and scary that Lyft would allow a driver who sexual harassed a rider to continue to use their app. Hopefully this public outcry is a wakeup call for them. And, seriously, GIVE US AN OPTION FOR FEMALE DRIVERS.