Laudrive, a private taxi service created and operated by women in Mexico, has seen its demand increased by 60 percent in just one week after a young woman named Mara Castilla was murdered by a Cabify driver in the state of Puebla.
Currently, the service, which is exclusively for women, has 750 “laudys,” the term the company use for their certified drivers. Currently, the company can’t meet that high demand, according to Luis Fernando Montes de Oca, its founder and director. The company was founded to promote equality, Montes de Oca said, and people are responding positively.
“It all came about because we noticed a problem in the applications that were already on the market,” he said. “Few women dared to offer their service as drivers during night shifts because they felt unsafe or that they were taking a risk by offering their service at night.”
The application for the service has been available on the Android since March 1, and for Apple devices since July 1. The base rate is 10 pesos (US $0.50) and the charge per minute is 2.50 pesos (US $0.12), while the cost per kilometer is 3.50 pesos (US $0.17).
The platform offers a private transportation service similar to Uber and Cabify, but only for women around Mexico City. The company has plans to expand to four more states in the country by January.
LAUDRIVE nace por la necesidad de seguridad y confianza de las mujeres. Conoce más de en https://t.co/ZPaxuxG1pC pic.twitter.com/xtxSgqaPKL
— Laudrive (@laudrive) September 16, 2017
Montes de Oca said they are already preparing for a second round of investments exceeding US $500,000 that will allow them to establish operations in the states of Puebla, Querétaro, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
Sources: El Financiero, El Excelsior, via Panamapost.
