Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Sept. 11, 2026 — Uber added a women-driver booking option in Puerto Vallarta this week, allowing women to request immediate rides or reserve trips with women drivers.
The feature, called Uber Mujeres, also lets riders prioritize women drivers for future trips. That preference does not guarantee an assignment because availability depends on participating drivers and wait times.
Uber included Puerto Vallarta in a 15-city expansion announced Sept. 10. Local rollout reporting also confirmed that the option is being activated in the city.
How riders can use Uber Mujeres
I reviewed Uber’s rollout instructions and found three booking methods with different limits.
For an immediate ride, a user can select Uber Mujeres from the available trip types. If no woman driver is nearby, the app will ask whether the rider wants to wait longer or accept a male driver.
Local rollout materials place immediate-trip availability between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. Uber’s national announcement says operating hours can vary by city.
Women can also schedule a later pickup through Uber Reserve and select Uber Mujeres during the reservation process.
The third method is a standing preference. Users can open the app, choose Settings, and then select Travel Preferences. The app will prioritize women drivers when possible.
That setting differs from selecting Uber Mujeres for a specific trip. If the expected wait becomes too long, Uber says the request may be offered to a wider group of drivers.
Availability will depend on driver supply
The new feature does not create a separate fleet. Uber’s support guidance for women-driver preferences says wait times can increase when women drivers are unavailable or farther from the pickup location.
Uber has not published the number of participating women drivers in Puerto Vallarta. During the national expansion, the company told reporters that women represented about 7% of its 250,000 drivers in Mexico.
That supply limit applies to requests across Puerto Vallarta, including pickups in Marina Vallarta, the Hotel Zone, Versalles, Centro and Zona Romántica. Availability can change by location and hour.
Uber said eligible users will receive information through email and app notifications. The first time a rider selects Uber Mujeres, the platform will require a gender confirmation.
When Uber introduced the feature nationally in May, the company said an artificial intelligence model initially identified eligible accounts using the rider’s first name. The user must then confirm the gender information before gaining access.
An expansion of an earlier driver preference
Uber first introduced Mujeres in May in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Los Cabos and Cancún. The latest expansion brings the option to 20 Mexican cities.
Other additions include Tijuana, Puebla, León, Celaya, Querétaro, Mérida, Morelia, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, San Luis Potosí, Torreón, Hermosillo and Ciudad Victoria.
The rider option builds on Uber Ellas, introduced in Mexico in 2020. Ellas allows women drivers to choose requests from women riders.
Cecilia Román, Uber’s communications manager in Mexico, said in a company statement that the feature gives women “more ways to travel as they choose.”
The feature changes how Uber matches riders and drivers. Puerto Vallarta authorities separately continue daily inspections of taxis and app-based vehicles, including checks involving unauthorized vehicles and cars registered outside Jalisco.
