How the Progressives compassion puts women at risk. Isn't it noticeable that there are no demographics given for the rapists. Is it an inconvenient truth?

We live in a city where a cab is sketchier than the subway

By Reuven Fenton, Dana Sauchelli and Danielle Furfaro

January 6, 2016 |

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Photo: Shutterstock

New York women have a much greater chance of being sexually assaulted in a taxi than even in the darkest, dirtiest corners of the subway system, statistics show.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton suggested the “buddy system” to get home safely from a bar in a cab — but rapes by for-hire drivers outnumbered those underground by a 14-1 margin in 2015.

And there have already been two reported rapes by cabbies in the first six days of the new year, police said.

The disparity comes despite 2 billion rides in the subway — which includes rank elevators, long hallways and staircases — compared with 220 million taxi trips.

New York women were surprised by the stats and assumed taking a taxi would always be the safer option.

“If I had to choose one, I’d assume the taxi is safer,” said Vanessa Ortiz, 39, a hotel clerk who lives on the Lower East Side.

“I’m always hearing about perverts exposing themselves in subways, stabbing people in subways. Taxis I generally think of as safe.”

But others admitted Wednesday that it can be scary to take a taxi home after a late night.

“I’ve never felt ‘safe,’ ” said bartender Kate Spaulding, who takes cabs after midnight at least four nights a week.

“I’ve felt comfortable at times, but not ‘safe.’ I’ve always felt we put way too much trust in these random strangers driving us home.”

“I know way too many females, myself included, that have gotten super drunk and either fallen asleep in a cab or just been so out of it they could never defend themselves,” she said. “It’s scary.”

Some female riders said they already use the buddy system, as the top cop suggested when he announced that about 10 percent of all stranger rapes in 2015 were perpetrated by for-hire drivers.

“If I’m going out at night, I usually have one of my roommates with me, so safety isn’t such a big concern,” said Anna, 24, a data specialist from the Lower East Side, who declined to give her last name.

All potential drivers must submit to a fingerprint-based criminal-background check through the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services, Taxi and Limousine Commission officials said.

Additional reporting by Sarah Trefethen and Tina Moore