24 Mar, 2021
Women can now opt for female drivers when they hail a ride from Bangkok’s predominant ride-hailing service.
Grab users can now find female drivers as an additional option for trips anywhere in the metro area by selecting “GrabCar (Lady).” It costs the same as the “GrabCar” option, which summons private drivers and costs a little more than commercial taxis.
While taxi drivers are held in acute suspicion, most unfairly, sexual violence does occur and harassment is common.
In 2019, a 33-year-old driver for the Singapore-based company was charged with raping an intoxicated 17-year-old teen student passenger while driving her home in Thailand’s northeastern province of Udon Thani. In 2017, a Brazilian tourist said she was raped by a driver who turned out to have several sex assault priors on his rap sheet.
Nearly half of all the women respondents to a 2020 Thammasat University survey said they experienced sexual harassment on public transportation, and over half feared it most when getting into a taxi.
Female drivers are not available for Grab’s motorcycle taxis, regular taxis or extra luxe spacious cars.
Men requesting the lady-exclusive service risk getting #canceled by drivers as the company says they can do so without penalty, even when groups of passengers consist of multiple genders.
