Since day one, Lyft has been committed to transportation equity and access, partnering with nonprofits to provide free and discounted rides for communities in need. Today, Lyft is launching a new partnership with Polaris, a leading organization in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery, to provide transportation access for trafficking victims through Polaris’ National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH).

“Since 2007, the NHTH has received over 3,000 cases of potential human trafficking with emergency crisis needs,” says Polaris’ 2018 transportation report. “It is critical that survivors are provided access to transportation as this might be the main obstacle to their leaving a trafficking situation. Ridesharing companies like Lyft are also integral in the process of leaving abuse as they often fill geographic gaps. Many victims of trafficking look to rideshare companies to assist in their safe exit and transition out of the life.”

The National Human Trafficking Hotline will use Lyft Concierge to call rides on behalf of victims and survivors of trafficking. “It's critical for survivors to be provided access to safe and reliable transportation when they are leaving their human trafficking situations. Ridesharing companies like Lyft are integral to that. We couldn't be more thankful to the Lyft team for providing a number of free ride credits for us to use when a survivor contacts the National Human Trafficking Hotline and needs this support,” says Bradley Myles, CEO of Polaris.

This commitment builds on Lyft’s ongoing commitment to help fight trafficking, including educating drivers and employees on how to spot potential trafficking and how to take action. More detail on this work is available here.