--- title: Chariot for Women: Car Share Service For Women Only description: Chariot for Women will have all female drivers and will only pick up women or males under 13. canonical: https://time.com/4288854/chariot-for-women-service/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-12T11:00:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:13.108Z og:title: This Car-Share Startup Will Only Give Rides to Women og:description: It was even founded by a former Uber driver og:url: https://time.com/4288854/chariot-for-women-service/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30a3fc2dab03d843/69888e8ea988ca50276b75b3/chariot-for-women-female-car-share-service1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5150 og:image:height: 2897 og:image:alt: 83541089 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Car-Share Startup Will Only Give Rides to Women twitter:description: It was even founded by a former Uber driver twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30a3fc2dab03d843/69888e8ea988ca50276b75b3/chariot-for-women-female-car-share-service1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Car-Share Startup Will Only Give Rides to Women > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ilan Mochari / Inc.](https://time.com/author/inc/) ## Ilan Mochari / Inc. Apr 12, 2016 11:00 AM UTC  Green car in group of white Green car in group of white Getty Images by [Ilan Mochari / Inc.](https://time.com/author/inc/) ## Ilan Mochari / Inc. Apr 12, 2016 11:00 AM UTC There was a time when concerned mothers would tell their teen children: Don’t walk alone at night. Take a cab. It’s safer. A few years ago, parents began substituting “an Uber” for “a cab.” The language changed but the message was the same. Now parents and riders concerned about safety have another option: Chariot for Women, a ride-sharing service slated for an April 19 launch throughout the U.S. The company, which is based Charlton, Mass., is not hesitating to take arms against Uber and Lyft, billing itself as a safer option than the market-leading ride-sharing companies for several reasons: First, all its drivers will be women. Second, it will only pick up female riders or males under age 13. **_Read more:_** [_30 Ways to Make Money On the Side This Year_](http://www.inc.com/john-rampton/30-ways-to-make-money-on-the-side.html?cid=sy304time) In addition, Chariot for Women is promising that while its fares will be comparable to those of Uber and Lyft, [there will be no surge pricing](https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/03/24/new-mass-startup-like-uber-lyft-but-for-women/1LmxftfcQDvl5GihRu9YNM/story.html). But wait, there’s more: Founder Michael Pelletz, is an erstwhile Uber driver. And he got the idea for the company after giving a ride to a passenger who made _him_ feel unsafe. According to various reports, [Chariot for Women](http://www.chariotforwomen.com/about-us.html) has signed up more than 1,000 drivers so far. You could argue Chariot for Women is a timely idea. But the idea begs a straightforward question: Is it legal to hire employees of only one gender–or to deny your service to would-be customers based on gender or age? Recently [employment lawyers told _The Boston Globe_](https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/03/28/uber-but-for-women-probably-illegal-experts-say/QP5fYbQfvXUnKcEs0BqhEP/story.html) that they doubted Chariot for Women’s hiring or the customer-selection practices would hold up against legal challenges. But the law, as any entrepreneur knows, is meant to be bent or modified when there’s money on the line. As the _Globe_ points out, the Massachusetts state legislature created an exception in gender discrimination law for fitness facilities in the late 1990s to accommodate the women-only health club Healthworks. If lawmakers could make an exception for health clubs, why couldn’t they make one for ride-sharing services? **_Read more:_** [_9 Motivational Videos to Help You Succeed in Business and Life_](http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/9-motivational-videos-to-help-you-succeed-in-business-and-life.html?cid=sy304time) What’s more, you can make a case that [any startup pushing legal boundaries is a startup worth paying attention to.](http://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/perks-pushing-boundaries-breaking-rules-as-entrepreneur.html) Thomas Goetz, founder of venture-backed health care tech startup Iodine, made this very point in a [column for _Inc.’s_ October issue](http://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/perks-pushing-boundaries-breaking-rules-as-entrepreneur.html). “Many successful companies have thrived by crossing into dangerous territory,” he writes. --- > “” --- Those are two prominent examples. There are more. In 2014, a report by New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman indicated that Airbnb’s New York rentals had violated zoning and other laws. Aereo raised $100 million in funding before the Supreme Court hammered nails in its coffin. And not a week goes by, it seems, without someone challenging the legality of fantasy sports sites like DraftKings and FanDuel, both of which boast billion-dollar valuations. **_Read more:_** [_Here’s What ‘Business Casual’ Means for Any Situation_](http://www.inc.com/zoe-henry/what-business-casual-means-for-any-situation.html?cid=sy304time) The point is this: As frightening is it can be to feel as if the fate of your business model depends on the scales of justice, that very dependence is also a positive sign. It indicates that you’ve hit on something pervasive and vital enough to be the province of judges and lawmakers. “Your new thing can’t be merely better than the status quo; it needs to be so great that it is sought out over the old, familiar thing,” writes Goetz. “To do that, your new thing must be more than provocative; it must be dangerous.” Even if it’s all about safety. _The_ [_article_](http://www.inc.com/ilan-mochari/ride-sharing-service-women-ex-uber-driver-founder.html?cid=sy304time) _above was originally published at_ [_Inc.com_](http://www.inc.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4288854/chariot-for-women-service/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4288854/chariot-for-women-service/"},"headline":"This Car-Share Startup Will Only Give Rides to Women","datePublished":"2016-04-12T11:00:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:13.108Z","description":"Chariot for Women will have all female drivers and will only pick up women or males under 13","url":"https://time.com/4288854/chariot-for-women-service/","keywords":["motto","News","Companies","Uber"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30a3fc2dab03d843/69888e8ea988ca50276b75b3/chariot-for-women-female-car-share-service1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ilan Mochari / Inc."}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30a3fc2dab03d843/69888e8ea988ca50276b75b3/chariot-for-women-female-car-share-service1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"83541089","caption":"83541089","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4288854/chariot-for-women-service/","name":"This Car-Share Startup Will Only Give Rides to Women"}}]}] ```