Six years ago, Deshea Devezin started driving rideshare in New Orleans because it gave her the flexibility to make a little extra money while her daughter was young. Devezin tended to work late at night and around the universities, partly because it lined up with her schedule and partly because Devezin knows what it’s like to be a young woman at night. She recalls how appreciative female students would be: “I had a lot of young ladies who were like, ‘Thank you so much. I’m so glad I got a lady driver.’ ”
This was before February when Lyft nationally launched Women+ Connect, a feature that helps match female and nonbinary riders with female and nonbinary drivers at a higher rate. As of July 2024, women and nonbinary drivers who have signed up for Women+ Connect across the U.S. are now matched with women and nonbinary riders about 66% of the time, up from around 50% last fall.
Devezin notes that since Women+ Connect launched, she estimates that about 70% of her passengers have been women. One such passenger is Sabrina Lewis, who has been riding with Lyft since last year when her car was totaled in an accident. Lewis takes up to five rides with Lyft a day as she goes to and from dental school, the grocery store, and the park with her three kids. Before Women+ Connect, Lewis would often get a male driver at night, but since the feature launched, Lewis sees the difference: “Now I get a woman almost 100% of the time. I often see Deshea [Devezvin] twice a day.”
The match always brightens Lewis’s day. “Deshea’s the best,” she says. “We talk about life, our families, and how we just want to be at peace. The conversation can get so good. It’s just crazy how you can connect with strangers off an app.”
It’s also a good experience for Devezin. “With women riders,” she says, “we get deep into it. It’s a confidential place. I have to tell them, ‘I’m sorry, you came to just get a ride and now you’re my therapist!’ ”
On top of the free emotional support, the pair note that riding with women helps them feel safer — particularly in the evening. Indeed, female drivers are 18% less likely to drive late at night (from the hours of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.) than during the day. But Women+ Connect has the potential to encourage women and nonbinary drivers to take on more rides at night, and, thus, start driving more frequently. If so, it would generate a virtuous cycle, not only helping drivers — who make more money when they give more rides — but riders, who would get matched more often with a Women+ Connect driver.
It’s also an early indication that Women+ may be incentivizing more women to start driving more frequently — thereby helping more Women+ riders get matched with a Women+ driver.
The likely result? Not just increased feelings of comfort but also more connections — like the one forged between Devezin and Lewis. As Lewis says, “When I relate to women [like Deshea] and tell them what I’m going through, they give me their perspective and advice. They tell me to keep going. They make me feel comfortable and confident.” And riding with riders like Lewis, Devezin suggests, makes women drivers feel the same way.
