Listen Live
Donate
 on air
    Schedule

    KCRW

    Read & Explore

    • News
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Culture
    • Events

    Listen

    • Live Radio
    • Music
    • Podcasts
    • Full Schedule

    Information

    • About
    • Careers
    • Help / FAQ
    • Newsletters
    • Contact

    Support

    • Become a Member
    • Become a VIP
    • Ways to Give
    • Shop
    • Member Perks

    Become a Member

    Donate to KCRW to support this cultural hub for music discovery, in-depth journalism, community storytelling, and free events. You'll become a KCRW Member and get a year of exclusive benefits.

    DonateGive Monthly

    Copyright 2026 KCRW. All rights reserved.

    Report a Bug|Privacy Policy|Terms of Service|
    Cookie Policy
    |FCC Public Files|

    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    As women sue Lyft over alleged sexual assault, how safe is it to hail a ride?

    Lyft has been hit with seven sexual assault lawsuits just this month. Four of the women allege that their driver raped them.

    • rss
    • apple-podcasts
    • spotify
    • Share
    By Madeleine Brand • Aug 22, 2019 • 1 min read

    Lyft has been hit with seven sexual assault lawsuits just this month. Four of the women allege that their driver raped them. All seven of them say they were charged for the ride after they reported the assault to Lyft.

    The suits come just two years after the president of the ride sharing app described Lyft as the “woke counterpart” to Uber. Uber, at that time, was dealing with its own sexual harassment scandal.

    Last year, a CNN investigation also found that more than 100 Uber drivers had been accused of sexually assaulting passengers in the past four years.

    So how safe is it to get into a Lyft or Uber?

    The full episode

    3 of 5
    Emmy nominee Laverne Cox on elevating stories of trans people
    1. 0:00The populist reshaping of the Republican party
    2. 8:31Orange County grapples with neo-Nazi activity
    3. 16:08As women sue Lyft over alleged sexual assault, how safe is it to hail a ride?You’re reading this
    4. 25:02Emmy nominee and 'Orange' star Laverne Cox on changing conversations about trans people
    5. 39:05The Music Center gets a $40 million makeover
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Madeleine Brand

      Host, 'Press Play'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Sarah Sweeney

      Vice President of Talk Programming, KCRW

    • KCRW placeholder

      Michell Eloy

      Former Producer/Line Editor, Press Play

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Amy Ta

      Digital News & Culture Editor

    • KCRW placeholder

      Laurel L. Simes

      San Francisco attorney who handles rideshare sexual assault cases

      NewsNationalTransportation

    The full episode

    3 of 5
    Emmy nominee Laverne Cox on elevating stories of trans people
    1. 0:00The populist reshaping of the Republican party
    2. 8:31Orange County grapples with neo-Nazi activity
    3. 16:08As women sue Lyft over alleged sexual assault, how safe is it to hail a ride?You’re reading this
    4. 25:02Emmy nominee and 'Orange' star Laverne Cox on changing conversations about trans people
    5. 39:05The Music Center gets a $40 million makeover
    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand