Getting home safely Two Schaffhausen women take night owls home for free

Two women in the canton of Schaffhausen set up a free transport service after a rape case. The aim is to "work together to ensure that no one has to travel alone and unsafely".

"Police looking for witnesses to rape", wrote the Schaffhausen cantonal police at the beginning of November. On the night of November 2, an offender dragged a 22-year-old woman into a bush in the town of Schaffhausen and raped her. He then made off. The public prosecutor's office is still investigating unknown persons.

Indja Hunziker (26) and Vanessa Fanni (32) want to do something about the fear and anger they felt. The crime took place in their neighborhood. So they founded the site "gethomesafesh" on Instagram.

The idea: "Working together to ensure that no one has to travel alone and unsafe anymore," they write. Anyone who doesn't have money for a cab and the last bus has already left can contact them and then get a free ride home.

And they are successful. Within 24 hours, they had 2,500 followers. In the first few hours, over 60 people contacted them wanting to offer a ride, they told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. They can no longer answer all the messages.

Now, a few weeks later, the two have been able to build up a pool of drivers for the escort service. Clear rules have been drawn up to guarantee the safety of everyone involved and a Telegram chat has been set up where people who need a ride can get in touch.

So far, this is all free of charge. But: "Our aim would be to mainly collect donations in order to use this money to pay cab drivers," they tell the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper.

No particularly high crime rate in the canton of Schaffhausen

Compared to other cantons, Schaffhausen is not known for a particularly high crime rate. They are pretty much in the middle of the field. The cantonal crime statistics are also unremarkable. Except in 2023, when the number of serious violent crimes rose by 50 percent. In 2022 there were 24, in 2023 36. Compared to previous years, this appears to be a one-off outlier. The new figures will not be published for a few months.

Christine Thommen, the city councillor responsible for safety, is also enthusiastic about "gethomesafech". It is "admirable and great that an initiative for self-help has emerged from a feeling of fear and powerlessness", she tells the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. The city itself wants to improve street lighting, provide safe sidewalks or create safe meeting places and lively squares.