Mum's Taxi

George McEncroe is organising this fundraiser.

Donation protected

This new Australian ridesharing company will provide safer transport for women and children, and help women who are looking for safe and flexible work.

Hi, I'm George. I'm a single mum with four standard teenagers.

Like many people who get divorced, we lost the family home. But no matter how hard I worked, I couldn't earn enough to get the bank to give me a home loan to buy another one. I have four casual jobs and was about to take on a fifth.

I went to drive for Uber and registered. Twice. And chickened out. I wanted to drive for a women’s only service and decided, like bringing in the washing, that the only way this could happen was if I did it myself. So I brought in the washing and registered the company.

Welcome to Mum’s Taxi.

Ladies, let’s roll…

Are we there yet? Well, so far I’ve put all my resources into designing and developing the app which is coming along swimmingly. The service will start off in Sydney, Australia because it's legal there – but as soon as we’re up and running, we’ll be working on going national. The more dollars we have the sooner we can come to you!

Only 12% of rideshare drivers are women, even though women make up the majority of the casual part-time workforce.

This app will be a gamechanger. It'll improve women's lives as earners, carers and social butterflies.

A parent can place the app onto a child’s phone. If the child wants to go home he, (if he’s 14 or younger), or she, can send a message via the app and the account holder, i.e. the parents, will receive an SMS to approve the fare. A GPS tracker will tell the parents exactly where their child is. This means parents can have kids taken to appointments, afterschool activities or birthday parties without having to be on the road all day themselves.

The app can also assist taking older women to appointments. Our drivers can accompany the passenger to a doctor’s appointment or to the hairdresser and contact the account holder to reassure them the passenger is home safe.

And of course this service will help women see friends and family, enjoy a night on the town or get to and from work with peace of mind.

Your financial support will provide critical funds. Your donations will enable me to recruit and scrutinise Mum’s Taxi drivers, establish a drivers centre in Sydney, and further test and retest our technology so it’s user-friendly and 100% roadworthy when we are set to launch in October 2016.

I'm a comedian, broadcaster, writer and teacher. I've been my son's Aussie rules football coach, my daughter's basketball coach, a member of kinder committees, primary school councils and high school councils. I like getting things done but I know you can't do it alone.

If this is an idea you'd like to support I'd be very very grateful.

Once we are national, 1% of every fare will go to a charity that improves the lives of women and children.

If you’re interested in being a Mum’s Taxi driver or rider in Sydney we’d love to hear from you!

You can email us at [email redacted] - there’s no need to send any personal information at this stage. We’ll contact you once we start recruiting our wonderful drivers and keep you in the loop about our progress.

You can also visit us on Facebook and Twitter