Shebah: Australia’s First And Only All-Female Ride-Share Service

In disturbing news, a 37 year old Uber driver has been charged with the rape of a 16-year-old girl in Brisbane’s south on July 8th, only days after reports of another 47-year-old driver being charged with raping a young female passenger three times. Last year, a Melbourne taxi driver was spared jail time after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a female passenger, while a Perth taxi driver was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail after raping a female passenger and sexually assaulting another.

Popular ride sharing app Uber has become the bread and butter of paid transportation since its inception in 2009, making a name for itself as the easier, cheaper and, most importantly, safer way to get from point A to point B. While every Uber trip can be tracked via GPS, making it the seemingly more secure alternative to public transport or a taxi, female passengers are still being constantly subjected to inappropriate behaviour, sexual harassment and sexual assault while paying to get home safe and sound.

While most of these incidents are reported by riders, many female Uber drivers also feel unsafe working night shifts for fear of experiencing inappropriate behaviour from male passengers. Despite Uber apparently performing thorough background and police checks on all of their drivers, sexual assault and harassment is continuing to occur more and more frequently within this supposedly ‘safe’ space.

Enter Shebah: Australia’s first and only all-female ride-share service helping women and children to get where they need to go, safely. Built by women for women, Shebah has established an all-female network of drivers and passengers to give women a more secure and comfortable ride-sharing experience. Shebah is now available in Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and will soon be active in Perth, Darwin and Adelaide.