The debut of a car service providing women drivers for female passengers in New York City has been delayed over lack of a sufficient number of drivers, the founder of the service confirmed on Monday.
Stella Mateo, the founder of SheTaxis/SheRides, said in a news conference on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan that the launch of the service, which was scheduled for Sept. 16, has been delayed until 500 women drivers can be recruited, according to Reuters.
Mateo said the service determined that demand would exceed the capacity of 100 female drivers currently available to fulfill requests.
The Uber-like smartphone app will not be released until SheTaxis/SheRides has signed on an additional 400 women drivers.
SheTaxis is the name of the service in the NY suburbs, whereas SheRides is used in the city itself, which has regulations governing the use of "taxi" in a name.
"In the taxi and livery industry, where women comprise less than 3 percent of drivers but 60 percent of riders, women's needs go unmet on either side of the partition," said Mateo, whose husband Fernando is founder of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, according to Reuters.
Mateo hopes the new service will provide safety and convenience to women as well as economic opportunity. She also believes that by encouraging women to drive it will allow them to become small business owners in an industry that has no gender pay gap, and provide flexibility for working mothers, according to Reuters.
SheTaxis/SheRides will hold a women's opportunity job fair starting Sept 16 at its Long Island City offices for seven days a week from 10 am to 8 pm in order to recruit more women drivers.
Mateo did not provide a new target date for the launch of the service, which will rely on an Apple app. An Android version is expected to be released soon as well.
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