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RightRides for Women's Safety was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that served four boroughs in New York City, offering late-night rides home for women and LGBT individuals. The RightRides program began in 2004 and ceased operation around September 2013.
Oraia Reid and Consuelo Ruybal, the founders of RightRides, learned of an increasing number of sexual assaults on women walking home by themselves late at night in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, two North Brooklyn neighborhoods. They then started RightRides for Women's Safety as a community-based response in 2004. It was a free rideshare program.
Using their own car, the pair began offering cisgender and transgender women a free ride home on Saturday nights.
Initially, RightRides operated in three neighborhoods—Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and the Lower East Side. However, a vehicle sponsorship with Zipcar in 2006 enabled RightRides to expand the program significantly by enlisting community members to volunteer to operate the donated vehicles and implementing a dispatch system to coordinate the cars. At the peak of its operation, RightRides served 45 neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx every Friday and Saturday night from 11:59 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. transporting anyone who identified as LGBT+ or a woman safely home.
Each volunteer driving team was composed of a driver and a navigator, and at least one member of each team identified as a woman. All volunteers were required to pass a criminal background check. Driving teams were required to wait outside for their riders to enter their residence in order to ensure their safety.
In 2009, RightRides co-founded New Yorkers for Safe Transit, a coalition in New York City working to end gender-based discrimination, harassment, and assault in the city’s mass transit system. This community organizing effort came as a result of teaming up with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to produce Hidden in Plain Sight: Sexual Harassment and Assault in the New York City Subway System, [1] a report on the frequency of gender-based violence in the city’s mass transit system. The report found that 63% of respondents reported having been sexually harassed and 10% had been sexually assaulted in the New York City Subway system. In 2009, Oraia Reid testified at a joint New York City Council hearing [2] called by Committees on Women's Issues, Public Safety, and Transportation to discuss subway safety. In 2010, Mandy Van Deven testified on behalf of RightRides at the first-ever New York City Council hearing on street harassment, [3] called by Council Member Julissa Ferreras and covered by over 200 media outlets worldwide.
The RightRides service ceased operation around September 2013. In an update posted to the RightRides official website, executive director Radha Patel wrote: "RRWS’ Board have concluded that for the longer sustainability of the organization and the RR program, we have decided to suspend the RightRides program and our community organizing work, resulting in the layoffs of our Program Manager and community organizer, effective this month. While difficult, this decision allows time for us to assess and review our operations model, its effectiveness, and overall sustainability, as well as a greater focus on building a stronger funding base. We are committed to revising our programs for better service to women and the LGBT*Q community." [4]
For its grassroots efforts, RightRides won several awards, including a Proclamation from the New York City Mayor's Office announcing December 12, 2005, as "RightRides For Women's Safety Day," presented by New York City Human Rights Commissioner Patricia Gatling. In February 2006, RightRides received the Susan B. Anthony Award for excellence in furthering women's equality from the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women. In March 2006, New York City Council Member Diana Reyna presented RightRides with the annual Pacesetter Award for capturing the spirit of New York City through their volunteer efforts. In 2007, Oraia Reid and Consuelo Ruybal were named New Yorkers of the Week [5] by NY1. In 2010, Oraia Reid was named by Metro News as an NYC Local Hero and was also recognized by the National Association for Female Executives as a Woman of Excellence for her service to NYC.
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the world's oldest public transit systems, one of the most-used, and the one with the most stations, with 472 stations in operation.
Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway and East Williamsburg; on the north by Newtown Creek and the neighborhood of Long Island City in Queens; and on the west by the East River. The neighborhood has a large Polish immigrant and Polish-American community, containing many Polish restaurants, markets, and businesses, and it is often referred to as Little Poland.
East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York City, United States. East Williamsburg consists roughly of what was the 3rd District of the Village of Williamsburgh and what is now called the East Williamsburg In-Place Industrial Park (EWIPIP), bounded by the neighborhoods of Northside and Southside Williamsburg to the west, Greenpoint to the north, Bushwick to the south and southeast, and both Maspeth and Ridgewood in Queens to the east. Much of this area is still referred to as either Bushwick, Williamsburg, or Greenpoint with the term East Williamsburg falling out of use since the 1990s.
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. It was an independent city until 1855, when it was annexed by Brooklyn; around that time, the spelling was changed from Williamsburgh to Williamsburg.
The Bedford Avenue station is a station on the BMT Canarsie Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and North Seventh Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, it is served by the L train at all times. With an annual total of 9,388,289 passengers for 2015, Bedford Avenue is the busiest subway station in Brooklyn outside of Downtown Brooklyn, as well as the busiest station in Brooklyn served by one subway service.
The G Brooklyn-Queens Crosstown is an 11.4-mile-long (18.3 km) rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored light green since it uses the IND Crosstown Line.
Women-only passenger cars are railway or subway cars intended for women only. They are a result of sexual segregation in some societies, but also can result from attempts to reduce sexual harassment and assault such as groping.
Street harassment is a form of harassment, primarily sexual harassment that consists of unwanted sexualised comments, provocative gestures, honking, wolf-whistlings, indecent exposures, stalking, persistent sexual advances, and touching by strangers, in public areas such as streets, shopping malls and public transportation. Besides actions or comments that contain a sexual connotation, it often includes homophobic and transphobic slurs, and hateful comments referencing race, religion, class, ethnicity and disability. The practice is rooted in power and control and is often a reflection of societal discrimination, and has been argued to sometimes result from a lack of opportunities for expression of interest or affection.
Vito Joseph Lopez was an American politician from New York. He was a member of the New York State Assembly, and chairman of the Democratic Party of Kings County.
The Grand Street Line is a public transit line in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, running mostly along the continuous Grand Street and Grand Avenue between Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Maspeth, Queens. It then continues down Queens Boulevard to the 63rd Drive–Rego Park station. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the Q59 bus route, operated by the New York City Transit Authority between Williamsburg and Rego Park, Queens.
The Audre Lorde Project is a Brooklyn, New York–based organization for LGBT people of color. The organization concentrates on community organizing and radical nonviolent activism around progressive issues within New York City, especially relating to LGBT communities, AIDS and HIV activism, pro-immigrant activism, prison reform and organizing among youth of color. It is named for the lesbian-feminist poet and activist Audre Lorde and was founded in 1994.
The Crosstown Line is a public transit line in Brooklyn, New York City, running along Van Brunt Street and Manhattan Avenue between Red Hook and Long Island City, Queens. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the B61 and the B62 bus routes. The northern section, the B62, is operated by MTA New York City Bus' Grand Avenue Depot in Maspeth, Queens, and the southern section is the B61, operated by MTA New York City Bus' Jackie Gleason Depot in Sunset Park. The entire route was a single line, the B61, until January 3, 2010; the B62 was previously a separate, parallel route between Downtown Brooklyn and Greenpoint, now part of the B43 route. The streetcar line, B61 and the original B62 previously operated from the now-closed Crosstown Depot in Greenpoint.
Bedford Avenue is the longest street in Brooklyn, New York City, stretching 10.2 miles (16.4 km) and 132 blocks, from Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint south to Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, and passing through the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Flatbush, Midwood, Marine Park, and Sheepshead Bay.
The Metropolitan Avenue/Lorimer Street station is an underground New York City Subway station complex shared by the BMT Canarsie Line and the IND Crosstown Line. Located in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, the complex is served by the G and L trains at all times.
National Congress of Neighborhood Women is a support group for grassroots women's organizations and community leaders involved in providing voices for poor and working-class women.
Guide-A-Ride is the bus stop information display for MTA Regional Bus Operations of New York City. It is a rectangular box attached to the bus stop pole that displays a route map and a schedule. Originally designed for MTA New York City Transit operations, it is also used for routes of the MTA Bus Company that were formerly privately operated.
Manhattan Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare in the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York City. It is the major shopping street in Greenpoint while it is mostly residential in Williamsburg. The stretch through Greenpoint is also called Little Poland for its high concentration of Polish culture and of Polish-named businesses and signage. The northern end was formerly connected to Long Island City, Queens by the Vernon Boulevard Bridge across Newtown Creek and the southern end is at Broadway. The southern part of the avenue is one-way northbound while the portion in Greenpoint is bidirectional. The IND Crosstown Line of the New York City Subway runs under Manhattan Avenue north of McCarren Park, and has two stations, Nassau Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue.
The B46 bus route constitutes a public transit corridor in Brooklyn, New York City. The route runs primarily along Utica Avenue north from the Kings Plaza shopping center through Eastern Brooklyn, with continued service west along Broadway to the Williamsburg Bridge Plaza Bus Terminal. The corridor was originally served by a streetcar line, known as the Utica and Reid Avenues Line, Utica−Reid Line, Reid−Utica Line, Reid Avenue Line, or Utica Avenue Line until 1951, when the line was replaced by bus service. The bus route is operated by MTA Regional Bus Operations under the New York City Transit brand.
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