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Online platform Bookaway introduces feature allowing female travelers to rate transit lines across the globe with an accent on safety, cleanliness and service.

By Yulia Karra, ISRAEL21c

The online transportation booking platform Bookaway recently launched a new feature that allows users from all over the world to rate public transport lines based on how safe they are for women.

The service entails asking female passengers to rate the service of a particular transit line from 1 to 5, evaluating the driver, other passengers, sitting arrangements, the process of getting on and off the vehicle, cleanliness, and more.

The transit lines with the highest ratings will then be classified as “safe for women” in the search results on the online platform.

Bookaway Group VP Brand and Communications Noa Greenfield said 90% of the transit lines that have been rated so far received a high score. “Only a few lines so far have been given a low score, and we immediately acted upon it, raising the issue with the operators,” she said.

“We estimate the number of travelers using the rating system will increase over the spring and summer, when the users get used to sharing their views with the community.”

Bookaway Product Manager Efrat Peeri said the idea to develop the feature was born after it was brought to the company’s attention that the experience of female travelers vastly differs from that of male tourists. “It was important for us to understand the needs of women who are traveling alone in order to respond to these needs on the platform.”

Bookaway currently facilitates online booking of travel tickets for more than 132,000 bus lines, trains and shuttles, managed by 8,000 different transport operators in more than 120 countries. It was founded in 2017 by Israeli travel enthusiasts Noam Toister, David Yitzhaki and Omer Chehmer. The company has so far raised over $81 million and employs 420 people in its offices in Tel Aviv, Thailand, Croatia and Argentina.

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