A common argument made by traditional taxi drivers against the various ridesharing companies operating in a region is that these platforms are fundamentally unsafe, especially for women who they claim are at greater risk of sexual assault than if they rode in a regular taxi.

A new study from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro explores whether this accusation holds water or not. The research, which explores the relationship between ridesharing and sexual assault, found that the introduction of such services into a region often results in a fall in sexual assault cases.

Indeed, the authors argue that ridesharing services often provide an extra level of protection for potential victims of sexual assault, especially in areas that lack public transport or in environments that may carry a higher risk of a sex crime.

Safer travel

The data showed that even a 1% rise in the number of Uber pickups in an area corresponded to a 3% fall in the chances of sexual assault.  Across the United States as a whole, the arrival of Uber into a city was associated with a 6.3% fall in rape incidents.

The researchers believe their work provides the first real attempt to provide systematic evidence that ridesharing platforms make a difference to the safety of citizens in the areas in which they operate.

“Ridesharing can reduce a passenger’s risk of being a target of sexual assault by providing a more reliable and timely transportation option for traveling to a safer place,” the researchers say. “Moreover, ridesharing contributes to a more significant reduction in the likelihood of rape occurrences in neighborhoods with limited transportation accessibility, such as the city’s outskirts and neighborhoods where a higher percentage of the population is non-Caucasian.”

That ridesharing seemed to be particularly effective in deterring sexual crimes in what would ordinarily be riskier circumstances, including in the vicinity of bars and nightclubs on weekend nights, is also an invaluable finding.

“Despite the common misconception due to popular media stories, our work proves that digital platforms can be leveraged to solve societal challenges by matching supply and demand closely for relevant services, which calls for spatiotemporal investigations of granular-level data in designing platform businesses and devising policy instruments,” the researchers conclude.