Female only taxis

As someone said previously, the separate train carriage proposal was unpopular because it put the onus on women to choose a woman-only carriage. If she didn't, and she was assaulted in a mixed carriage, society would find a way to blame her - she shouldn't have been in there, she was asking for it by travelling with men, etc etc.

So why isn't it the same with women-only taxis? Surely it is up to men to sort out their behaviour, rather than force women to seek out a service that is not widely available.

I actually think that this is a great idea - women's safety should be paramount. It just seems to be contradictory to the train-carriage discussion, because I thought that that was a great idea too, but many people didn't.

Yes it's a good idea. Three things I have had/known to happen in taxis:

• ex's sister was raped by a taxi driver.
• local taxi drivers use the mobile phone numbers our pretty nannies used to book (and to receive the confirmation text with the car model and plate) to phone them in the evening and ask them out on dates! They feel very threatened.
• one local driver scares the life out of me - he clearly has a problem with women, is very bitter and twisted and I try to avoid his car (hiding until someone else takes it at the rank). I always wonder whether his ex (or any passengers) are buried under his lawn.

On the other hand the vast vast majority of male taxi drivers I use are absolutely lovely.

I don't understand your point there, Grimarse. This is a service option. It's also possible to request a larger or smaller cab and some firms operate hybrids to be greener. Not sure what it has to do with accommodation?

That is because The Patriarchy has put a memory-erase spell on you, vvviola.

Why isn't this seen as once again putting the onus on women to accommodate men's violent behaviour?

They've been doing this in Germany for decades. Certainly when I lived there in the 90s, I was able to call the local taxi firm after my shift in the bar I worked in and ask for a Frauentaxi. (Incidentally they also had something which translated as "last one to lock up taxi" the last member of the staff in all the bars in town got a half price taxi home - I used to cause some consternation when I ordered a Frauentaxi combined with a "lock up" taxi)

I don't remember any problems with men wanting men-only taxis or women being blamed for getting taxis driven by men and then being assaulted.

I don't think you can universally assume women are always safer and/or a criminal woman can be fought off or bought off.

I've never bothered but when you order a taxi can you ask for a female driver?

It also perpertrates the idea that women = safe and harmless men = danger, avoid whenever possible.

As long as men continue to be a danger to women, I don't see the problem with acknowledging that. I don't think a taxi service of all things will socialize boys to be violent - television, videogames and cinema are doing that much more effectively.

And really, women ARE safer, even if they are criminals, because if a woman attacks you, you have a fair chance fighting back. So I'd rather take my chances with a criminal woman. Especially since she's much more likely to be just after my money.

This would be pretty expensive, plus what about comms blackspots? Also wouldn't prevent a cabbie driving woman home then assaulting her outside the cab and claiming consent.

Would it be possible to have 100s of cctv streaming into the office?

With present tech, I doubt it, however, if it was a thing that people wanted it might be doable and I'm sure someone would come up with a way of doing it.

Would it be possible to have 100s of cctv streaming into the office?

I wonder if it would become mainstream? It's not a service I would use. At the moment I suppose if you want a female driver you could ask when booking.

I don't think many men would use a male only taxi service. There's just no reason to. If, as can be assumed, the first taxi in sight is a regular one, they'd use that. Most likely the driver would be male, anyway.

Which is why those men who oppose the women only taxi service will likely fight tooth and nail to have it banned, and won't be content with the permission to have a male only taxi service. They know it wouldn't be successful. Even if, by random coincidence, half of the men use the men only taxi, that'd be 25% of potential customers, while a women only taxi would have more close to 40% of potential customers, and generate new demand because women who up to then thought public transport safer might consider a female taxi driver even safer than that.

"So a male only taxi service would be fine?"

Is this the "sauce for the goose" argument, the one that ignores the fact that men aren't generally attacked and sexually assaulted by women and don't fear women attacking and sexually assaulting them?

*Wouldn't women only taxis also open up the possibility of victim blaming?
If a woman took a taxi with a male driver, then was attacked - well what on earth was she doing not taking the women only one?
It seems very similar *

That seems implausible. Most people will still just want a taxi when they need it. If you're hailing on one the street or at a rank you take the first one which comes.

" then the male only taxi service would not be castigated? At all?"

Unlikely. Society much happier castigating the women and often rarely bothers to castigate the rapist. See Eamonn "why didn't you take a cab" Holmes.

Wouldn't women only taxis also open up the possibility of victim blaming?
If a woman took a taxi with a male driver, then was attacked - well what on earth was she doing not taking the women only one?
It seems very similar.

No, because the taxi driver is only one person. I think it is much easier for victim blamers to say "She should have known that men rape", than "She should have known that this man was a rapist."

Of course, victim blamers will blame, but I think there's less risk of that if they would have to directly blame a woman for paying for a service done by a male person.

Like, plumbers would go next. There's already a company that offers female plumbers.

It just isn't in the interest of male service providers that women be victim blamed for trusting them.

I can't imagine really that woman would book a men-only taxi, so the "castigation" scenario is not really likely to arise.

Obviously, if someone was in trouble and a cab driver who only picked up the 'other' sex was there, you'd like to think some basic humanity would kick in and they'd help where they could.

In the unlikely event of a men only taxi service existing why would I attempt to book a taxi with them?

A female only or a men only service could only be economically viable in large population centres where there will be other taxi operators. The scenario a male only firm being the only service available is implausible.

So a male only taxi service would be fine? And if the male only taxi service refused to transport a female and that female subsequently got raped/attacked then the male only taxi service would not be castigated? At all?

Depressing from the Independent

Overall, the Met reported 1,427 drivers had been charged with a crime since 2011, of which 521 were for violent or sexual offences. Those figures include both black cab and minicab drivers.

I read an article a while ago about the rise in stranger rapes in New York here.

9 - 10% of them were attacks by cab drivers which is huge when you consider the proportion of the male population who actually are cab drivers. In the face of those sorts of statistics (and the seeming inaction on the part of police services to tackle it; in the article the Police Commissioner was telling women to travel in pairs ), it seems reasonable to have female-only cabs.

Not sure about the statistics in this country. Will try to find some.

Yes, absolutely fine with me, why do you ask?