Thursday, September 8, 2016

Have you ever heard of Grandma Uber?

"It has taken me 57 years to find my calling and I think I've found it," says Kathy Raydings of Brisbane, Australia. After hearing concerns from young women who felt unsafe traveling at night, especially in a taxi driven by a man, Raydings became an Uber driver and made it her mission to get young women home safe after a night on the town. Her car comes equipped with water, energy drinks, sugar-free biscuits, and a huge container of chocolate candy -- M&Ms, Snickers, Mars Bars, all of it. But how did her service become so popular?

                                                                                                         Kathy Raydings / Facebook
Another Brisbane woman named Amy O'Farrell heard about Grandma Uber from a colleague, and shared her name and photo on a local, girls-only Web page. The post gained more than 2,000 likes in 50 minutes. Since then, Grandma Uber's client base has blossomed. She now drives 70 hours a week. So far, she's driven more than 3,500 Queensland girls safely home, and her Uber rating is 4.8 stars. In order to serve more passengers, she's meeting with two more older women to expand her mission. "It's obvious they'll need to get Uber approval and credentials," she said. "We'll dress up their cars with stickers so the girls will recognize that its another Grandma Uber." The work is demanding, but Kathy Raydings enjoys every minute of it, explaining that a Grandma Uber "just needs to love the girls, treat everyone with respect, care for them and get them home. There's no rocket science to it."

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