4 ms·

Lyft’s new feature lets women and non-binary riders request driver’s gender

2 points by dbg31415 3y ago

dbg31415 3y ago
I like this feature. I also wish that there was also a feature for "old people" to select elder-friendly drivers.
- ksaj 3y ago
  I'm not elderly yet. But I have a surgery-related profound hearing loss in one ear, which means I have a hearing aid for that. And much later I reached of the age where now I have TWO hearing aids, because of age related hearing loss along with loud rock-and-roll, that I now wear one in "the good ear." I still don't want a louder driver.
  - dbg31415 3y ago
    My dad has hearing aids. 100% this. Hearing aids magnify sounds, so when people have hearing aids often talking slower, or talking facing them, is better. Here's what happens for Dad. He'll go up to the car, and and the driver will wave him off sitting in the front seat. I hate that moment. Dad always looks so sad. Dad is pushing 90, and I try as much as I can but sometimes I can't always take time off work to drive him places. Anyway, the back seat is the worst place for Dad's hearing aids to work, since the driver is talking forward. And usually drivers have the radio on. Then, the driver will say something, and Dad will come back with, "Pardon, I didn't catch that." (Or he'll just smile and nod.) And, unless it's some other older person, the driver will then shout back what they just said. This blows up Dad's hearing aids, and then Dad will be busy trying to adjust to compensate the volume. It hurts to hear super loud sounds. It's just unpleasant. So at some point Dad just gets mad at the driver for shouting at him. And the driver could have just said, "Nice weather we're having?" or he could have said, "Did you want to go to the front or back of the VA Hospital?" (The answer there could mean a 5 minute walk for Dad, through a busy parking lot.) Dad has had drivers take him to the wrong address, even when I put the address in correctly. Who knows how that happens. Now... the sensitive part, this is all so much worse with people who are non-native speakers. (But not nearly as bad as it is people from New York, or the East Coast in general -- accents and aggressively loud people are never a good mix.) Dad really doesn't like trying to deal with language barriers on top of hearing aid issues, all while the driver is shouting at him. They should have mandatory training for how to talk to people with hearing aids -- make sure every driver knows that raising their voice is not the way to do it. But... that would require Uber / Lyft to care about the elderly, and they clearly don't Uber is basically non-functional when you try an use it with larger fonts on an iPhone. You can really tell how little shits someone gives about accessibility based on how their app works with non-default font sizes. (Haven't used Uber in a year, disclaimer. I reported the issue about fonts like 20 times over 4 years and then just gave up on them.) It sucks to get old. But it would be nice to have an "old people friendly" option on ride apps.
porkbeer 3y ago
Sexism by any other name.
- Bostonian 3y ago
  Considering which sex commits the vast majority of sexual assaults against women, it's not irrational for women to prefer not getting into the cars of male strangers, or for women drivers to prefer female passengers. FWIW I am male.
  - porkbeer 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - Bostonian 3y ago
      You can make distinctions between race and sex. Long after public bathrooms were desegregated by race, they are still usually segregated by sex.
    - glitcher 3y ago
      "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" citation please
    - dang 3y ago
      Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
- clipsy 3y ago
  You feel the same about bathroom segregation, right?
- version_five 3y ago
  I don't see a problem with it, the real issue is going to be men "identifying" as women to get female drivers. Or drivers "identifying" as women. The whole thing doesn't make much sense if people are allowed to pick their sex.
oldgregg 3y ago
[flagged]
nowooski 3y ago
Wasn't there an entire ride share company predicated on this idea a few years ago?
- dbg31415 3y ago
  Cabracadabra, from BoJack Horseman. (= https://bojackhorseman.fandom.com/wiki/Cabracadabra https://bojackhorseman.fandom.com/wiki/Cabracadabra
GoGo415 3y ago
[dead]

2 points by dbg31415 3y ago

dbg31415 3y ago

I like this feature. I also wish that there was also a feature for "old people" to select elder-friendly drivers.

ksaj 3y ago
I'm not elderly yet. But I have a surgery-related profound hearing loss in one ear, which means I have a hearing aid for that. And much later I reached of the age where now I have TWO hearing aids, because of age related hearing loss along with loud rock-and-roll, that I now wear one in "the good ear." I still don't want a louder driver.
- dbg31415 3y ago
  My dad has hearing aids. 100% this. Hearing aids magnify sounds, so when people have hearing aids often talking slower, or talking facing them, is better. Here's what happens for Dad. He'll go up to the car, and and the driver will wave him off sitting in the front seat. I hate that moment. Dad always looks so sad. Dad is pushing 90, and I try as much as I can but sometimes I can't always take time off work to drive him places. Anyway, the back seat is the worst place for Dad's hearing aids to work, since the driver is talking forward. And usually drivers have the radio on. Then, the driver will say something, and Dad will come back with, "Pardon, I didn't catch that." (Or he'll just smile and nod.) And, unless it's some other older person, the driver will then shout back what they just said. This blows up Dad's hearing aids, and then Dad will be busy trying to adjust to compensate the volume. It hurts to hear super loud sounds. It's just unpleasant. So at some point Dad just gets mad at the driver for shouting at him. And the driver could have just said, "Nice weather we're having?" or he could have said, "Did you want to go to the front or back of the VA Hospital?" (The answer there could mean a 5 minute walk for Dad, through a busy parking lot.) Dad has had drivers take him to the wrong address, even when I put the address in correctly. Who knows how that happens. Now... the sensitive part, this is all so much worse with people who are non-native speakers. (But not nearly as bad as it is people from New York, or the East Coast in general -- accents and aggressively loud people are never a good mix.) Dad really doesn't like trying to deal with language barriers on top of hearing aid issues, all while the driver is shouting at him. They should have mandatory training for how to talk to people with hearing aids -- make sure every driver knows that raising their voice is not the way to do it. But... that would require Uber / Lyft to care about the elderly, and they clearly don't Uber is basically non-functional when you try an use it with larger fonts on an iPhone. You can really tell how little shits someone gives about accessibility based on how their app works with non-default font sizes. (Haven't used Uber in a year, disclaimer. I reported the issue about fonts like 20 times over 4 years and then just gave up on them.) It sucks to get old. But it would be nice to have an "old people friendly" option on ride apps.

porkbeer 3y ago

Sexism by any other name.

Bostonian 3y ago
Considering which sex commits the vast majority of sexual assaults against women, it's not irrational for women to prefer not getting into the cars of male strangers, or for women drivers to prefer female passengers. FWIW I am male.
- porkbeer 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - Bostonian 3y ago
    You can make distinctions between race and sex. Long after public bathrooms were desegregated by race, they are still usually segregated by sex.
  - glitcher 3y ago
    "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" citation please
  - dang 3y ago
    Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
clipsy 3y ago
You feel the same about bathroom segregation, right?
version_five 3y ago
I don't see a problem with it, the real issue is going to be men "identifying" as women to get female drivers. Or drivers "identifying" as women. The whole thing doesn't make much sense if people are allowed to pick their sex.

oldgregg 3y ago

[flagged]

nowooski 3y ago

Wasn't there an entire ride share company predicated on this idea a few years ago?

dbg31415 3y ago
Cabracadabra, from BoJack Horseman. (= https://bojackhorseman.fandom.com/wiki/Cabracadabra https://bojackhorseman.fandom.com/wiki/Cabracadabra

GoGo415 3y ago

[dead]