Home Safe, a new campaign that launched in the UK last week, will help people short of cash get a taxi home by refunding them up to £10 of the cost of their trip.
Cleverly, the initiative can be used to get an Uber, Bolt or other taxi apps to travel home, and will be available across the country.
London-based university student Match Sienkiewiczgot to the idea for the initiative after chatting to female friends, who often said they felt unsafe walking or getting other methods of transport home, but couldn’t always afford taxis.
“We want to get women, girls and anyone who needs us home safe,” Sienkiewiczgot explains on the Home Safe Instagram page.
“We are here to help those who can’t afford to get an Uber home. Our mission is to alleviate the financial stress which often is the main factor to why women and girls choose to take a less safe journey home.”
In an interview with the
Independent, the young entrepreneur explains:
“I started Home Safe because I felt like there was a real absence of men talking about women’s safety.
Explaining that Home Safe will be operated by volunteers and funded entirely by donations, Sienkiewiczgot continues:
“Around the time of Sarah Everard’s disappearance, a lot of my girl friends were talking about it and sharing things online, but there was shockingly little support from the male community.
I knew that while there wasn’t a solution, there was definitely steps we could take in the right direction. As a young lad myself, I felt a responsibility to do something about it.”
Amazingly, Home Safe has since raised £5,543 since the fundraiser opened in November – the equivalent of 554 refunded trips.
You can find out more about Home Safe, and donate to the initiative,
here.
