Lyft records more than 4,000 sexual assault cases in long-overdue safety report

FILE PHOTO: The Lyft Driver Hub is seen in Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

Lyft Inc received reports of more than 4,000 instances of sexual assault on its ride-hailing platform between 2017 and 2019, it said, detailing the data in a safety report it had promised to publish about two years ago.

The company report, issued late on Thursday, showed sexual assault reports on its platform had increased from around 1,100 in 2017 to some 1,800 in 2019. But it said bookings increased at a higher rate during that time, resulting in a 19% drop in the overall incident rate.

Lyft said more than 99% of its journeys had occurred without any safety incident.

“While safety incidents on our platform are incredibly rare, we realize that even one is too many. Behind every report is a real person and real experience, and our goal is to make each Lyft ride as safe as we possibly can,” Jennifer Brandenburger, head of policy development and research, said in a company blog post.

The company said it has invested in safety features, employed rigorous driver background checks, and consulted sexual assault experts.

Lyft had committed to releasing its report at the end of 2019, when its larger rival Uber Technologies Inc provided the ride-hailing industry’s first detailed safety report.

Uber at the time disclosed it had received some 6,000 reports of sexual assault related to 2.3 billion trips in the United States in 2017 and 2018.

Lyft, which services significantly fewer trips than Uber, did not disclose the total number of rides it completed in its Thursday safety report, but at 0.0002% the incident rate was the same as Uber’s.

Unlike Uber, Lyft did not disclose what share of incidents resulted in drivers being harmed. Uber’s report showed riders accounted for roughly half of the accused in sexual assault reports.