Bulletins

Lyft recorded over 4,000 sexual assault reports between 2017 and 2019

The number is part of Lyft's first community safety report.

A car with Uber and Lyft stickers displayed on the front window.

Lyft released a community safety report two years after Uber.

Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Lyft users reported over 4,000 instances of sexual assault between 2017 and 2019, according to the ride-hailing app's first community safety report released Thursday. The report comes two years after Uber released a similar report on its own platform.

The number of sexual assault cases climbed over the three-year period, as Lyft's total ridership grew as well. The report showed 1,096 reports of sexual assault in 2017, 1,255 reports in 2018, and 1,807 in 2019. Of those, 360 were reports of rape. The report also includes information on fatal physical assaults and motor vehicle fatalities.

"We recognize that sexual assault is chronically underreported, and it can sometimes be months or years before a survivor is ready to come forward and report what happened – if they choose to do so at all," the company wrote in the report. "Knowing this, Lyft included any incident reported in 2017, 2018 and 2019, regardless of when the incident was reported to have occurred."

Uber released a similar report at the end of 2019, revealing around 6,000 instances of sexual assault between 2017 and 2018. Lyft said it would release similar data shortly after Uber, but its report was just released Thursday. Both companies have faced criticism for their handling of sexual misconduct on the apps, having both faced a handful of sexual assault allegations in court.

Sarah Roach

Sarah (Sarahroach_) writes for Source Code at Protocol. She's based in Boston and can be reached at sroach@protocol.com

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