Elsie Lange
Just getting a cab or rideshare home from the train station after work can be difficult in outer metropolitan and regional areas.
This can be made even more stressful if you’re a woman, anxious about your safety in the car of a stranger.
That’s where Marie-Louise Pawsey comes in, she’s a rideshare driver using the Shebah app to provide safe passage to women.
Ms Pawsey lives in Glenroy, but travels all across the north western suburbs, including Hume and Whittlesea, to get people from A to B.
“The feedback I’m getting is that [passengers] don’t want to be in a car with a man, if they can avoid it,” Ms Pawsey said.
“I feel like in the country, it’s even more reason to want to be safer, it’s a bit remote.”
Shebah is an all-woman rideshare app launched in 2017, with a mission to help women and children using the platform to feel secure in the knowledge they are safe – drivers need a working with children check too.
She said the women she drives have told her they feel like they are “driving with a friend”.
“It’s about us being safe and comfortable,” Ms Pawsey said.
Ms Pawsey said she’s one of just a few Shebah drivers in the northwest, and it seems people really appreciate what she does.
“Given that I’m reaching out to Sunbury, I feel like I’m providing a service that otherwise isn’t being provided,” Ms Pawsey said.
“The message is clear from a lot of the women I pick up, no matter where they are, they’re just so grateful to have Shebah.”
