As parents with older kids you might have thought about letting your kids take an Uber or Lyft ride alone to get them to their activities. Using Uber for kids is a hot topic right now. A Vancouver father was criticized for letting his kids take public transportation alone to school, but busy parents with few other options are seeing Uber and Lyft as potential ways to get their kids to school and activities.
But, how safe is it to let minors take Uber or Lyft?
Against the Rules
The first obstacle you’ll come up against in scheduling an Uber or Lyft for a minor to take alone, is that neither company allows the practice.
According to Uber’s Terms of Service, Uber “is not available for use by persons under the age of 18. You may not authorize third parties to use your Account, and you may not allow persons under the age of 18 to receive transportation or logistics services from Third Party Providers unless they are accompanied by you.
Lyft has a similar policy. Lyft’s Terms of Service read, “The Lyft Platform may only be used by individuals who can form legally binding contracts under applicable law. The Lyft Platform is not available to children (persons under the age of 18) or Users who have had their User account temporarily deactivated.”
Though Uber and Lyft weren’t designed to be kids’ transportation services, more and more parents are relying on them to transport their children and teens. It’s possible that the drivers are picking up minors without being aware of the rules, even though the practice isn’t technically permitted by either company.
Who’s Driving Your Child?
If you do find an Uber or Lyft driver willing to drive a minor, you still need to consider who’s driving your child. The screening processes that Uber uses are minimal – whereas the taxi industry performs background checks that include fingerprinting, Uber’s background check omits the fingerprinting process.
Lyft’s driver screening process includes a driving record check through the DMV and a criminal background check performed by a third-party company using the driver’s social security number.
Ultimately, with either service you’re entrusting your child’s safety to an adult who you don’t know. What if we told you there was a safer alternative?
GoKid: A Solution for Busy Families
GoKid is designed to help parents set up carpools for kids. While we don’t hire drivers, GoKid’s invitation-only design ensures that only parents you directly invite to participate in carpools can join. Your child will be driven only by parents you trust, and our app requires that the driving parent also has their own child in the car. If your carpool partners are comfortable with it, you can even add your babysitter or a grandparent to your family account so they can drive when needed.
If you’re new to GoKid we’d like to offer you a special gift so you can experience all of GoKid’s great features: 3 months of GoKid Pro for free. Simply sign up here and in your profile choose “upgrade to GoKid pro,” enter the promo code “MOVE3MONTHS” (only available on web) and you’ll be upgraded instantly.
We’ve also equipped GoKid with other safety features to give you peace of mind and help keep carpools as safe as possible. Live tracking (a feature that’s coming soon) means you can keep track of just where your child’s carpool is at any time. Plus, arrival notifications will alert you when your kids have reached their destination.
Transportation Solutions for Busy Families
If you’re looking for a transportation solution to get your kids to school, activities, and more, then Uber and Lyft aren’t ideal unless you can also be in the car with your children. GoKid allows you to easily set up carpools for your kids, so you and other parents can all share in the driving and your kids can still get to and home from their destinations on days when you have scheduling conflicts.
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