‘Don’t catch a taxi’: Female-only rideshare helping Cairns women and children get home safe

Female-only rideshare service Shebah is back on the streets thanks to one Cairns driver committed to helping women and unaccompanied minors travel without fear.

A female-only rideshare service is back on the streets thanks to one Cairns driver committed to making it possible for women, children and non-binary people to travel without fear of assault or harassment.

Cassandra Quirk signed up as Cairns’ sole Shebah driver two months ago to a warm welcome.

“The response has been amazing, because everyone wants to be safe at night,” Ms Quirk said.

Shebah’s female-only drivers must pass a thorough Police and Working with Children Check and the service is limited to women and children passengers.

Ms Quirk remembered vividly her own frightening experience of a cabbie driving past her house despite her telling him to stop, and said part of her motivation for signing up as a driver was fears for her 20-year-old daughter in a similar situation.

“You want her to be safe, you know? I’d always said to her, ‘just call me, if you’re coming home at three in the morning I’ll pick you up. I don’t want you catching a taxi’,” she said.

“We don’t discriminate against men, it’s at my discretion – a lot of LGBT, non-binary people use the service for obvious reasons … It’s a great service for many disabled people as well,” she said.

“It’s just about feeling safe.”

Shebah is the only rideshare in Australia licensed to carry unaccompanied minors; Ms Quirk was soon to meet a single mum looking for someone to shuttle her three-year-old son to daycare.

“She hasn’t got transport and the buses are unreliable where she lives, so she wants her son to get used to me so I can pick him up twice a week … I’m going to enjoy that I reckon,” Ms Quirk said.

Shebah, the female only rideshare service, has resumed operating in Cairns. Shebah driver Cassandra Quirk is appealing for other women to start driving for the service. Picture: Brendan Radke

Shebah Head of Support and Onboarding Tashi Graeme-Baker said being able to book trusted drivers was one of the major drawcards of the service.

“People like being able to book the same driver, people like having a reliable friendly face that they can get to know,” Ms Graeme-Baker said.

“Being able to transport kids safely is a big thing for us. We work with a lot of child safety services and they need to know their clients will be looked after.”

Shebah previously had two drivers in Cairns, but after losing 70 per cent of its profits during the pandemic the company went into voluntary administration in September 2021.

“We’re just trying to slowly rebuild. A lack of drivers is the biggest thing that means people jump to other rideshares … Cassandra is doing a really good job of rebuilding our market up in Cairns,” Ms Graeme-Baker said.

Originally published as ‘Don’t catch a taxi’: Female-only rideshare helping Cairns women and children get home safe