ON SATURDAY,
JULY 14TH RIGHTRIDES EXPANDED TO SERVE 35 NYC NEIGHBORHOODS,
ACROSS FOUR BOROUGHS!
Service map shows the areas we are now serving:
Red areas - S. Bronx
Blue areas - Manhattan
Orange areas - Queens
Purple areas - Brooklyn
Click here for
a Complete
list of all neighborhoods we serve
ABOUT RIGHTRIDES
RightRides
organizes volunteers to
operate a fleet of up to 6 cars that are donated by Zipcar. Driving
Teams can only drive women, transpeople and gender queer individuals
home.
We started RightRides in 2004 in direct response to an increase
in assaults on women walking home by themselves. Our motto is, "Because
Getting Home Safely Shouldn't Be A Luxury " and
we recognize that many women and trans people do not have the extra
funds to take a taxi and walking home from public transportation
late at night can increase one's risk of assault. You do not need
to feel threatened to call for a safe ride home.
SERVICE TIMES AND AREAS
RightRides is currently available every Saturday night from Midnight
- 3 AM late night Saturdays (aka early Sunday morning). We will pick
up and drop off Riders only within the shaded areas shown
on the map. Your
ride must begin and end within the neighborhoods that we are
serving. At
this time, we have limited volunteer resources and can not offer
service outside these areas or on other nights.
The Dispatch number to call for a ride home
is (718) 964-7781. Please
note: we only turn on the phone from Midnight -3 AM late
night Saturdays (aka early Sunday morning). If you call during
operational hours and you get the voicemail, please try calling
back! We're probably busier than usual or we have limited volunteer
teams driving that night.
RightRides can expand to more at-risk neighborhoods
with increased volunteer
interest and donations! Please
help us make this service possible!
FAQ
--How does RightRides work?
--When Riders call us
--Driving team rules
--Rider rules
--Complete list of all neighborhoods RightRides
now serves
--What about my
neighborhood?
HOW DOES RIGHTRIDES WORK?
Key Alliance. We’ve teamed up with Zipcar
to make RightRides possible. Zipcar has generously
donated six vehicles for our volunteers to drive during RightRides
operations. RightRides pays for our volunteer driver's Zipcar membership
and Zipcar waives the hourly rental fees. Learn
more about Zipcar.
Caring and reliable. RightRides provides friendly
volunteer Driving Teams made up of a Driver and a Navigator to
see our Riders home safely and help advocate for their increased
personal safety. Our service strives for a response time
of 20 minutes or less to pick up riders. The RightRides program
ONLY drives women, transpeople and gender
queer individuals home.
Safety- and service-minded. Because RightRides cares about Rider and Volunteer safety, all Driving Teams are pre-screened to meet our high safety standards. We are always looking for new ways to improve our service and enourage Rider involvement in our related safety educational programs. Driving teams help track the number of Riders per car, the neighborhoods visited, and generally note any service requests and feedback that Riders might have.
Sensitive to diverse communities. RightRides
is now inclusive of the entire transgender (male and female identified)
and gender queer/gender nonconforming communities. We understand
that many experience frequent predatory assaults, hate crimes and
random street violence just because they identify outside of societies
two gender bias. We recognize that they do not have fair or just
representation within traditional support systems such as law enforcement
or by medical professionals, and we wish to lend our support towards
ending discrimination, hate crimes and assaults based on gender
stereotypes.
We are committed to providing a safe ride home for these individuals as they have limited resources available to them not only financially, but within greater society to make sure they can get home without threat of assault. RightRides strives to address the safety needs of these individuals with respect and dignity that all humans deserve.
It is our policy to ensure that one person of our volunteer Driving
Teams will identify as female for the increased comfort of all
our Riders.
Sensitive to your privacy. Rider’s privacy is important to us. We will not use Rider’s name or call back number for any purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

WHEN RIDERS CALL US
We’ll exchange information. The dispatcher will give their name and ask for the Rider’s name, pick-up and drop-off locations and call back number.
We’ll encourage safe practices. We recommend that the Rider stay indoors or in a well-lit and safe area until we arrive.
We’ll keep you informed. The dispatcher
will give an estimated time of arrival (we strive for 20 minutes
or less response time, but this varies depending on how many volunteers
we have on a given night, traffic, and call volume) and how to
identify the Driving Team. All car teams have signs with
the RightRides name clearly displayed.

DRIVING TEAM RULES
Two-member driving teams are mandatory. One
team member will identify as female.
Drivers must have a safe driving record. Volunteer Drivers have safe records with no major violations in the past 3 years and no DUI’s within 7 years.
Safety first. Teams always wait to see that the Rider has safely entered their building before driving away.
RightRides is an “on-call” service. We
are not able to take calls or ride requests in advance – the
dispatch phone is only turned on during operational hours.
Likewise, we are only able to offer pick-up and drop-off
within our service area. RightRides can expand to greater
areas and nights with increased volunteer interest.

RIDER RULES
We will only take Riders directly home. We will pick up Riders from where ever they call: a bus stop/subway station, nightlife establishment, apartment, etc. We will not accept requests for transportation to a bar or party, only directly home.
We can transport up to 2-3 Riders at a time. Passenger space, seatbelts and safety are our main considerations.
We only serve women,
transpeople and gender queer individuals in this program. If
you are in a group with male-born, male-identified
individuals, we apologize, but we are unable to take them too.
Cancellation? Let us know as soon as possible. We receive a high-volume of calls for rides, so being a “no-show” causes huge delays for other Riders. Please call us back as soon as possible if you no longer need a ride.
We welcome your donation. But
we do not accept cash in the car, not even tips. Please visit out donate page--every
dollar helps make RightRides possible or sign
our mailing list to join us at one of
our many fundraising events during the year.

COMPLETE LIST OF ALL NEIGHBORHOODS CURRENTLY SERVED
RightRides will pick up and drop off riders
within these neighborhoods ONLY, due to limited number of volunteer
driving teams:
Brooklyn: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Boerum Hill, Bushwick,
Carroll Gardens, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Downtown
Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Gowanus Canal, Greenpoint, Park Slope, Prospect
Heights, Red Hook, Williamsburg, Windsor Terrace
Bronx: Hunts Point, Mott Haven, Port
Morris, The Hub
Uptown Manhattan: all of Harlem (areas from
96th Street and north on the Eastside and from CPN/110th Street
on the Westside all the way north, up to West 145th Street)
Downtown Manhattan: all
neighborhoods located 23rd Street and south. This includes Battery
Park, Chelsea, Chinatown, East Village, Lower East Side, MPD, NYU, West
Village.
Queens: Astoria, Long Island City, Ridgewood

WHAT ABOUT MY
AREA OF QUEENS or BROOKLYN, STATEN ISLAND?
Q: Why isn't RightRides providing service for and within these
areas?
A: We're working on bringing RightRides to these areas - and because
we're entirely volunteer-run, we're dependent on increased volunteer
interest (and donations!) to make expansion possible.
Can you help us expand? If
you are in the NYC area - what we need most is volunteer
driving teams and outreach help to secure more volunteer teams.
Please
if you can help us expand to more NYC neighborhoods by putting up flyers and
posters seeking volunteers.
If you live outside of NYC and
you are interested in bringing RightRides to your area, click
here to learn more about starting your own RightRides chapter!

START YOUR OWN RIGHTRIDES CHAPTER
It's rewarding work and we can help you
RightRides is an important community service that can be easily replicated in
other cities that show clear demand and volunteer resources to support the
ride home program. RightRides chapters are starting to form around the country!
RightRides launched on a shoestring budget and the founders have
laid most of the groundwork by envisioning the best operational
model, creating volunteer orientation manual and how to lead training
sessions, plus designed the logo, dispatch cards, outreach flyers,
templates and forms – all these basics
are in a complete package to assist new chapters.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED
We'll ask you to send us a short, written report
First, identify the need for bringing RightRides to your area.
Is there a high incident of sexual assault, limited or non-existent
public transportation, are taxi services too expensive and it’s
too far to walk, do people rely on getting rides home from the
bar/club/party only to feel “obligated” to
go home with another, are areas between central nightlife culture
and the neighborhoods where people live desolate, poorly lit, unsafe?
These are just some of the reasons why RightRides is successful
in NYC – because there is a need for a free, safe, late night
ride home. Plus, there is a community of volunteers who want to
reduce the risk of assault and they are making a huge difference
by making RightRides possible.
Next, identify potential partners such as community centers, sexual
assault prevention/response clinics, women’s groups, student
activist groups, etc. in your area. You'll need: a space to host
volunteer orientations, community partners to help spread the word
and/or act as the legal sponsor, and of course volunteers to operate
RightRides and help get the word out for more volunteers!
Ideally, you can bring RightRides
to your city through an existing non profit organization to be
the program's legal sponsor. Because there are cars, late
nights and insurance involved, we prefer to work with existing
organizations who will enter into a licensing agreement to limit
liability. If you want to create your own non profit – this
is awesome too! This step would be more work of course, but we
did it and there are a ton of people and resources to help you.
Finally, talk it up with your friends and your community! Let people
know that getting home safely is important and that RightRides
can happen in your area with their volunteer help. It just takes
between 5 - 10 dedicated people to launch RightRides!
Once you've worked through these steps, send us
a written brief. Please
about 1-2 pages with an introduction about yourself/your group and how you learned
about RightRides, the need in your city and mention any information on potential
partners and community interest to:
Oraia Reid
co-founder, Executive Director
RightRides for Women’s Safety, Inc.

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