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.