Motorcycle-Taxi Services Are Putting Women’s Safety and Privacy at Risk

By: Nahila Salameh

“Every time I use a motorcycle-taxi app, I feel like my life and personal data are at risk,” says Mona (a pseudonym), an employee who commutes daily across several areas in Beirut and its suburbs. “My number is often shared among groups that offer rides outside the app, and sometimes those groups even find their way to my social media accounts. I’m constantly afraid of being harassed after the ride ends.”

Her daily experience is not just an isolated challenge. It exposes a broader reality: the limited protection available to women in public spaces and in digital environments alike.

Motorcycle taxis: incomplete alternatives in the absence of public transport

In recent years, motorcycle-taxi apps have spread as a faster and cheaper option, alongside private groups of drivers managed by coordinators who assign trips by area. More recently, the service has also been offered spontaneously on the street, with some drivers stopping to offer rides directly to passersby.

These alternatives have created a way for women to move around in a country with no organized or efficient public transport system. Lebanon lacks a network that connects different regions, workplaces are often far from main roads, and daily traffic congestion, especially in the morning, makes commuting even more difficult.

But these improvised solutions come with risks. Women have faced safety violations, breaches of privacy, harassment, and the consequences of having no legal framework regulating motorcycle use or the apps that run these services.

“My number is often shared among groups offering rides outside the app, and sometimes even reaches my social media accounts.”

Our right to digital protection and physical safety

Mona explains: “I started using delivery apps a few months ago to save money and avoid traffic. But it’s not without risks. Some drivers don’t follow safety rules, no helmet, unsafe bikes, and sometimes I have to ask them to slow down because the roads are dangerous.”

She adds: “Some drivers offer rides outside the app, claiming it’s safer or faster. But then I started receiving direct messages from delivery groups, and I realized my personal data, my name, my number, was being shared without my consent.”

She continues: “It doesn’t stop there. Some drivers try to chat with me or add me on social media. I’ve had to block many of them. But what scares me the most is reporting the harassment, whether to the app or to authorities. Will reporting actually protect me, or expose me to more danger since the drivers have my number and address? That’s why I stopped using the app altogether.”

Mona’s story is not an isolated incident; it reflects the wider pattern of gender-based violence in public spaces. Survivors are often blamed for what they experience, while laws fail to guarantee their protection or ensure their safety, whether on the street or online.

Structural violence in public transportation

What Mona, Nour, and Lynn experienced is part of the larger structural violence that shapes women’s mobility in Lebanon. A study titled “Navigating Mobility in Crises: Public Transport Reliability and Sustainable Commuting Transitions in Lebanon,” published in June 2025, found that women, especially in low-income areas, depend on public transport more than men, yet remain at constant risk of harassment and assault.

The study notes that economic and social factors limit women’s access to safe transportation, making improvements to public transport infrastructure essential for ensuring women’s safety while commuting.

“The lack of a comprehensive legal framework regulating motorcycle use in public transport significantly increases safety risks, especially for women.”

Legal regulation of motorcycles and public transport in Lebanon

Despite the widespread use of motorcycles as a primary mode of transport, especially in Beirut and other urban areas, the Lebanese legal system still lacks a clear regulatory framework specifying how motorcycles can operate within public transport or through ride-hailing apps.

The Traffic Law (No. 243/2012) focuses mainly on general safety rules, such as helmet requirements and traffic regulations, along with penalties for violations. There have also been scattered local decisions, most notably the Beirut governor’s decision (No. 5/B, February 7, 2025) banning motorcycles at night within the capital, except for essential services.

But the absence of a comprehensive framework governing motorcycle use in public transport leaves women especially vulnerable, exposing them to direct threats to both their physical safety and the security of their personal data.

“I was insulted and threatened by a motorcycle driver”

Nour (a pseudonym) shares her experience with harassment while using the service. “I had just finished work and ordered a motorcycle ride from one of the groups that offer services outside the app. I’ve used them for a long time because they’re cheaper and faster. That day, I coordinated with the driver to give him my work address, since the drivers rotate constantly, and we agreed on a time. He was late, and when I tried to contact him, he answered in a degrading tone. I asked the group administrator to cancel the ride, and suddenly the driver sent me messages filled with insults, bullying, and threats, accusing me of getting him suspended from work.”

She continues: “I won’t deny the impact this had on me. I struggled to process what happened and missed several days of work out of fear it would happen again. I didn’t report it to authorities because I was afraid of retaliation; he knew where I worked. Since then, I’ve been seriously considering stopping the service altogether to protect my mental health and avoid any further risks.”

“The absence of safe transportation exposes us to even greater danger. Every time I leave for work, I feel like I’m putting my life at risk.”

The motorcycle lady lover experience

A striking initiative recently appeared in Beirut and its suburbs, led by Hanan, who launched a women-only motorcycle delivery and transport service under the name Motorcycle Lady Lover. On her TikTok page, she posted videos introducing the service, which offers fast and safe transportation and strictly enforces safety measures, including requiring passengers to wear helmets. This initiative highlights creative, individual attempts to address traffic congestion and the shortcomings of traditional transport options, while also underscoring women’s need for safe and privacy-conscious mobility solutions in public spaces.

No guaranteed protection

Lynn (a pseudonym) lives outside the capital and works in an institution far from her home, forcing her to use the same service. During one of her rides, she was involved in an accident that nearly cost her life.

She tells Sharika Wa Laken: “I first used the app, and through it I met a driver who told me about a supposedly safe group offering motorcycle rides. I contacted them and started using the service daily, but I faced multiple risks due to speeding and the lack of safety measures. Once, the motorcycle flipped over, and my leg was badly injured. I had to be hospitalized and cover all medical expenses for three months. Neither the driver nor the operator paid a single pound.”

She adds: “The absence of safe transport options exposes us to even greater danger. Every time I leave for work, I’m putting my life at risk, with no guarantees or protection, simply because I have no choice but to rely on a faster and cheaper means of transportation.”

“The absence of reform means reinforcing structural violence and continuing to exclude women.”

Women’s inclusion is urgent

The stories of Mona, Nour, and Lynn reveal a daily reality in which women face multiple risks, from lack of safety and breaches of privacy to harassment after the ride ends.

These individual experiences point to a broader systemic problem: the limited protection women receive in both public and digital spaces, as well as the continued exclusion of women as drivers, despite existing initiatives that could have offered them safer, more private options.

This makes comprehensive reform of the transport sector an urgent necessity, not only through better infrastructure or new legislation, but also by restoring trust in women as drivers and integrating them meaningfully into the sector. Including women in ride-hailing apps and establishing clear laws regulating motorcycle transport and digital platforms, in ways that protect their data and physical safety, opens the door to a new approach to gender justice in public space.

Failing to take these steps entrenches structural violence and continues the exclusion of women. What is needed are fair urban policies that recognize women’s roles and guarantee their full and safe right to the city.

Ultimately, reforming the transport sector in Lebanon will remain incomplete unless it recognizes women’s rights not only to safe mobility, but also to driving, and to full participation in shaping that right.

By: Nahila Salameh