SA国际传媒

As the horror stories continue about women getting into ride-hailing vehicles and facing everything from to , Uber and Lyft are being called on to take more aggressive safety measures.

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And they are. Today, announced its in partnership with the University of South Carolina to help students identify fake drivers. , doubled down on driver identification and background checks.

As the two ride-hailing companies barrel toward the public market amid the pressure to be better, smaller ride-hailing startups are finding room to step up and brand themselves around safety. These players are small potatoes in terms of capital and user base, but they鈥檙e targeting the users that Uber and Lyft are leaving behind.

, a professor who researches trends in ride-hailing at Arizona State University, told SA国际传媒 News that, in general, 鈥渕arket segmentation is undervalued in the ride-hailing world.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 skeptical of global domination but bullish on niche markets that provide new services,鈥� he said. 鈥淭rying to be a monopoly from the start won鈥檛 work but developing a nice, mid-sized business will.鈥�

King鈥檚 point is that while Lyft and Uber overwhelmingly cater to the average user, niche startups have an opportunity to target edge users. In this case, that category refers to those who identify as females. But whether these companies could be profitable is another story, he said. Still, some startups are convincing investors they have a future.

One Boston ride-hailing company, Safr, wants drivers and riders that identify as female to feel safer when entering a car. The company has 10,000 drivers on-boarded across the nation; however, it has not officially launched.

In an attempt to differentiate from Uber and Lyft, Safr interviews every driver that joins the platform. (Note: In 尝测蹿迟鈥檚 early days, its co-founders also did this, .) Additionally, users can express gender preference when calling a ride.

, meanwhile, wants to bring an 鈥渁ll women rideshare鈥� experience to Australia. Its focus is on bringing safety to the ride-sharing market for women and children. Its potential users are willing to bet on it: the company just raised $3 million in equity crowdfunding.

According to Shebah, 1,000 drivers are on-boarded, and there are 800 more in the pipeline. Their driver recruitment process includes government and police checks, a clean driving record, and appropriate vehicles.

Yet even these niche ride-hailing companies aiming to address safety gaps left by Uber and Lyft are not immune to criticism and intrigue.

Safr CEO Syed Gilani was arrested in June 2017 for embezzlement in a matter separate from Safr, reported . Gilani said this fact did not impact investor interest in his company.

Additionally, Safr was criticized about its branding as a female ride-hailing startup, which some legal experts said was discriminatory to men. Gilani specified the company is female-focused, not female-specific. That said, once you join, you get an email that says 鈥淲elcome to the Safr Sisterhood 鈥� You鈥檙e a Superwoman.鈥�

Meanwhile, Shebah marketing director Carol O’Hanlon told SA国际传媒 News that the company only welcomes female drivers on the application. King, a ride-sharing researcher, questions whether it is legal to exclude men. Shebah has also said it struggled to convince male investors, so it鈥檚 sticking to crowdfunding at this current stage.

Market Still Needs Convincing

It鈥檚 clear that across the industry, ride-hailing companies are thinking and talking about safety.

Lilly Kenyon, the head of operations at RideGuru, has observed that many players are trying to capitalize on various niches within the ride-share marketplace鈥攂ut that doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 working.

鈥淲hile there is a place for these niche companies, Uber and Lyft are still dominating the market,鈥� she said. According to a recent by RideGuru, 57 percent of respondents stated they use Uber the most, followed by 29 percent for Lyft. The remaining 14 percent were split among other niche startups like Juno, Via, or Arro.

King echoed the sentiment.

鈥淚 doubt women will be interested in paying a premium for what seems like comparable services to Uber and Lyft. If they don鈥檛 feel safe, they鈥檒l probably just drive or not go out at all,鈥� he said.

This year, Uber will release a transparency report providing the public with 鈥渄ata related to reports of sexual assaults and other safety incidents claimed to have occurred on our platform in the United States,鈥� .

Uber did not immediately respond to questions regarding when it will release the report, or what it is doing to address international incident claims (because it happens , too, of course).

尝测蹿迟鈥檚 , a senior manager on policy and safety communications, told SA国际传媒 News that there is 鈥渘o place in the Lyft community for discrimination or violence of any kind.鈥� Richards said they do 鈥減rofessionally administered criminal background checks.鈥�

To critics, Safr highlights proven investor interest and user demand as data points in favor of its success, despite being up against enormous, and enormously wealthy rivals Uber and Lyft. On the first point, Safr will announce new fundraising in the coming weeks; more when we know it.

There was a time when it was presumed that only one company would control the entire U.S. ride-hailing market. 尝测蹿迟鈥檚 IPO undercuts that argument, and new safety-focused contenders may demonstrate room for more than two. In time the conversation around ride-hailing might just become less about complete market control, and more about serving different slices of demand.

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