UES therapist launching ‘Uber for pedestrians’ to combat street safety fears: ‘I’m risking my life over cab fare’
New Yorkers fearful of random attacks can rest a little easier.
A Manhattan therapist — who was randomly assaulted in broad daylight — is launching her own “Uber for pedestrians” mobile app that seeks to boost street safety in numbers.
Upper East Side resident Pamela Garber said her invention, Never Walk Alone NYC, will pair up users with other pedestrians in a “buddy system,” similar to rideshare services like Uber or Lyft, so they can commute without fear.
“Walking is a testament to our freedom,” she told The Post, “[but] I’m walking past people shooting up, I’m walking past someone who looks hostile, and I’m calling my then-fiancé saying, ‘stay on the phone with me.’
“If we can’t just walk and patronize restaurants and stores, we’re going to lose our entire way of life, particularly in New York,” she added.
Garber’s fiancé tragically died in an accident before the pair were able to tie the knot, but she said she found solace by walking around the city — until the COVID pandemic brought more disorder to the streets.
“My strong desire for family and subsequent disappointments were always soothed by walking the streets of the city,” Garber, 55, said.
“The streets of New York were always comforting. It was always as if the city was one big neighborhood with the best of northeast hospitality, and welcoming witty -albeit often colorful- banter. Walking to work was my front-seat off-Broadway show.”
But Garber began noticing “visible” changes to her walking commute from the Upper East Side to her former office in the Financial District – and in 2019, after nearly a decade of strolling downtown, “it just became impossible” for her to hit the pavement without becoming fearful for her safety.
“I just know that the environment changed, that it visually changed,” she said, adding that the full-fledged app idea came about in 2020 during the pandemic.
Garber said she was also inspired to take action after being inundated with horrifying anecdotes from her psychotherapy clients.
The therapist recalls her clients having witnessed stabbings, being followed for blocks and being mugged after leaving a grocery store.
“They feel helpless,” she said. “This app offers a practical solution.”
Her resolve to launch the app was strengthened after her own assault in summer of 2022, she said, when she was punched in the neck repeatedly by a stranger in her own neighborhood on a Saturday afternoon.
“The police, though professional, did not arrest my attacker,” Garber said. “The [same] woman attacked a pregnant woman immediately after me.”
Felony and misdemeanor assaults citywide were down 1% and 1.8%, respectively, so far in 2025 compared to this time frame last year, according to police data, while robbery was down 21.2%.
But for Garber and others, one assault experience can be enough to seek an alternative to walking or taking the subway alone.
The app is still in the development phase as Garber courts investors for the roughly $250,000 endeavor. She plans to launch beta testing within the next 12 months with 100 Manhattan participants.
“I’m risking my life over cab fare,” a promotional video for the app plainly asserts.
Some New Yorkers told The Post that they’re similarly alert on city streets — and that walking with another person would add a much-needed level of protection to their commute.
“Being a New Yorker, I’m always kind of keeping an eye on thing. I do pay a little more attention on trains and [to] people around,” Janice Tsao, a Midtown East resident and real estate agent, said.
“It sounds interesting,” Tsao added. “I’d be curious to see if there are enough people for that, and if it would be quick enough to get someone because you don’t want something to happen to you while you’re waiting [on the street] for that person.”
Upper East Side resident Stevie, who declined to provide her last name, said “I feel like it’s a great idea” — but noted that it wouldn’t curb every concern.
“If I’m with other people I’d feel safer, definitely, even [with] another woman – when I’m with a man, that doesn’t really do much to help,” she said.
Stevie added she was doubtful a “buddy system” could squash all random attacks – like one that saw a woman stabbed on a crowded SoHo street earlier this month.
“Does it really make a difference [to walk in a group?],” she asked. “Someone got stabbed in the neck and I’m like, ‘well yeah.’ I feel like society just needs to be better to women.”
Garber said she plans to implement background checks and virtual interviews to screen users as a way to assuage fears that the app could fall into the wrong hands or be used by people with nefarious motives.
For individuals, Never Walk Alone NYC will follow a “Citi Bike model,” in which the app coordinates a meeting place by each subway station each hour, Garber said.
Businesses, schools and other institutions will also be able to “subscribe” and customize their own meeting points.
Garber expects the app would cost about $25 per month for individual users and an adjusted price for institutions based on company size.
Groups with an in-house subscription would effectively use their own hiring or admittance process as a de facto “vetting” tool.
As she waits on potential private investors, Garber is also trying her luck in courting the interest of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration — and contends the app could even be a multi-million dollar revenue generator for the city through advertising, subscriptions and data mining.
“We’re getting increased safety by walking together, getting increased social opportunities in real life and steps in on a health component,” she said of her project.
“I just need the business companionship to make the walking companionship happen.”
