Seeking to quell an uptick of attacks on Capitol Hill’s LGBTQ community, a small group of anti-crime advocates have started running a shuttle service to get neighborhood residents home safely at night.
The nine-passenger van donated to Social Outreach Seattle made its inaugural run through the neighborhood Thursday night, primarily to start spreading the word on the new service. According to organizers, the donation-based service did not require any special permits to start picking up passengers.
SOSea founder Shaun Knittel said the pilot shuttle will run for the next two months, from 9pm-4am Thursday-Saturday. During the pilot phase, Knittel said the shuttle won’t have any designated stops and will take people right to their door. The plan is to have a series of stops worked out in time for Pride this June, Knittel said.
“Most of the people are getting attacked are alone walking at night,” Knittel said. “(Criminals) are honing their skills and they know who to attack.”
Knittel first announced the shuttle during the recent LGBTQ violence forum at Capitol Hill’s All Pilgrims Church.
Eventually, Knittel said he wants to add several more vans to better serve the neighborhood. Knittel said the drivers will be paid and the suggested donation for a ride is $5.
Can anyone ride it? Or is it LGBQT only..?
Knittel said anyone can use it.
Watch it immediately fills up with 9 drunken Wooo Girls who are too wasted to get to their cars. And the people most at risk (drag queens, gender non-conforming, younger & small in stature gayboys, etc) will be contending for space with your garden-variety over-poured straight girls. I hope this works out better than it seems like it could.
Those Woo Girls totally deserve getting beaten or worse, amIright?
So let me get this straight– drunken Woo Girls attract the drunken Douche Bros that beat up GLBT people. So GLBT people should organize safety vans to make drunken Woo Girls feel safer so we attract more of them which brings more of the Douche Bros to beat up more GLBT people. IsThatWhatYouMean? Splendid! How bout we fix the problem– the Douche Bros. Then the GLBT people AND the drunken Wooo Girls are both safer, instead of trying to patch the symptom (bashings) and not the problem (Douche Bros).
I share your skepticism, Jim. I predict that most of the customers will be straight people who just want a cheap (or free) taxi ride. The van is well-intentioned, but I doubt it will be successful……would love to be proven wrong.
Wow. You’d think LBGT community and allies wouldn’t be misogynist assholes, but I guess not.
Hop into this windowless van! It’s for your safety!
Sorry I couldn’t help it…
Seems like an potentially good idea. Sad it has come to this though.
Sounds like Alabama, not Seattle.
This is not a solution. This is not action.
This is reaction.
Totally agree.
Good idea but its sad it has come to this. And as for projecting a little too much on to people just because they are different from you….that cuts both ways. I don’t consider that anyone deserves to be a crime victim whether you want to categorize them negatively or not. And if this night ride concept is for the LGBTQ community why would the service become focused on on those who are not?
why can’t they just take an uber or taxi?
A lot of people no doubt do, but that still misses the point, regardless of who we’re talking about. They shouldn’t have to. Again that’s treating the symptom and not the problem.
[…] The hate crime case helped spark a wave of concern this year about anti-gay bias crimes on Capitol Hill. Last week, Mayor Ed Murray’s LGBTQ task force released its report with recommendations for strengthening the gay community and increasing safety in the city. Other efforts underway include SPD’s Safe Place program and a new nighttime LGBTQ safety shuttle. […]
[…] The hate crime case helped spark a wave of concern this year about anti-gay bias crimes on Capitol Hill. This summer, Mayor Ed Murray’s LGBTQ task force released a report with recommendations for strengthening the gay community and increasing safety in the city. Other efforts underway include SPD’s Safe Place program and a new nighttime LGBTQ safety shuttle. […]