Not a nationwide proposal. - A female-only taxi service is being introduced in Osnabrück.
In the German city of Osnabrück, a low-cost ladies' night taxi service is slated to debut in the near future. Patricia Heller, Osnabrück's equal opportunities officer, said the service should be available by summer, but there are still details to work out and no specific date has been chosen yet.
The primary objective of the ladies' night taxi is to decrease the risks associated with dangerous trips home. Local security concerns have sparked considerable conversation and debate at nighttime. "There are definitely ways to address this issue," Heller noted.
This taxi service in Osnabrück is targeted at women and girls, aged 14 and up, as well as those with "diverse" assigned gender. Passengers can reserve a taxi for nighttime travel either by phone or using an app. The cost for a nighttime taxi ride within the city's limits will always be €7. The remaining sum will be covered by the city.
Several other German cities provide similar discounted nighttime taxi rides for women. Hanover has been offering one such service since the 1990s. The city currently subsidizes each ride by €5. "The usage figures have significantly declined during the COVID-19 crisis," said a Hanover spokesperson, "but since the end of 2022, there has been a positive trend again." However, usage hasn't yet returned to the pre-pandemic level.
In Oldenburg, a similar trend is observed. "Demand for the women's taxi in Oldenburg is satisfactory," indicated a spokesperson. Out of the 3,000 vouchers made available annually, roughly 60% were used in the previous year. Pre-pandemic, it was 95%. Women and girls over 12, whose permanent residence is in Oldenburg, can acquire the vouchers for €2 from city offices and libraries.
However, not all cities offer subsidized nighttime taxi rides just for women. In Göttingen, there are currently no plans to introduce such a service. Neither Braunschweig nor Wolfsburg have announced intentions either.
Bremen, meanwhile, had a subsidized women's night taxi from 2020 to 2023. But a Bremen spokesperson disclosed that the subsidy had been discontinued during budget negotiations. The reasoning: The subsidy was considered too broad and collecting usage data was viewed as too bureaucratic. Additionally, the taxi fare was higher than the cost of public transit. "The service would only profit women who could already afford a taxi," the spokesperson said.
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The female-only taxi service in Osnabrück is attracting interest from other cities in Lower Saxony, such as Hanover and Oldenburg. The German Press Agency reported that Hanover has been offering a similar service since the 1990s, and Oldenburg saw satisfactory demand for its women's taxi.
The city of Bremen had a subsidized women's night taxi from 2020 to 2023, but the subsidy was discontinued during budget negotiations due to its perceived broad scope and bureaucratic data collection requirements.
In contrast, the city of Göttingen currently has no plans to introduce a subsidized women's night taxi service, while cities like Osnabrück, Hanover, and Oldenburg continue to explore and implement such initiatives to improve safety for women and girls in the region.
With the success of women's taxis in Hanover and Oldenburg and the anticipated debut of one in Osnabrück, the German press may soon cover developments in Bremen, Göttingen, and other cities in Lower Saxony to monitor how these services impact the safety of women and girls in their communities.
