RightRides
Pink areas are current service areas and blue areas are proposed expansion areas for 2007.
Saturday night from 12-3am, instead of my usual getting-drunk-and-dancing routine, I did something good for my community by volunteering for RightRides as a driver.
In case you’re not familiar with this program, here’s the low down:
RightRides For Women’s Safety’s mission is to reduce women’s, transpeople and gender queer individual’s risk of harassment and sexual assault by providing a free, late-night ride home service to insure their safe commute to or through high-risk areas. We also organize educational, violence-prevention opportunities in our related programs to foster increased safety awareness for the greater public.
Not bad, huh?
This year, they’ve teamed up with ZipCar, which provides 3 cars on Saturdays from 12am-3am. They’re hoping to increase their service availability and are always looking for more volunteers to drive, navigate, and bike patrol!
The dispatch number to call in order to get a ride is (718) 964-7781.
Go ahead and call, volunteer, etc!
Yes, it is a great service, no doubt about it. The problem is, the pink service areas and the blue ones it’s expanding to are so NOT high-risk…at least not anymore. In fact they are the most gentrified areas, in Brooklyn at least. If this program really wanted to work in “high risk” areas, it would go to neighborhoods that aren’t even on that map.
Lauren, I’m guessing the Manhattan areas they want to expand to are simply out of convenience–i.e. they’re close enough to not be out of the way. While the eastern blue areas in Brooklyn are definitely being gentrified, if I lived off the Prospect Park stop on the Q I’d love a service like this. Especially because cabs are often reluctant to go out that far.