Taking into consideration the young ones in families, Uber is now trialling a riding option that allows parents with toddlers to keep their children safe, while abiding by South African legislation.
South African legislation making it illegal to transport any child under the age of the three years old in a vehicle without a car seat came into effect in May 2015.
Through UberFamily, the cab-hailing app allows you to request a cab fitted with a car seat
“We’re excited to be able to respond to the many queries we’ve received from riders, who are also parents, with UberFAMILY an experimental solution to travelling with young children,” Alon Lits, General Manager at Uber Sub-Saharan Africa, said in statement.
“Uber is deeply committed to the safety of riders using the app and to this end we have implemented some unique solutions for UberFamily, which include connecting riders to some of the highest rated driver-partners using the Uber app” he adds.
Introducing #UberFAMILY trials in JHB, the on-demand car seat option for parents on the go! https://t.co/aNPI9x5bsC pic.twitter.com/9QkFKCQmLO
— Uber South Africa (@Uber_RSA) February 8, 2016
“With many young families, Johannesburg provides the perfect testing grounds and we look forward to providing parents with an alternative, safe and reliable transport option”, Lits added.
UberFamily vehicles will make use of MiloFix car seats – provided by Maxi-Cosi – which is a high safety Isofix convertible car seat. The seat covers two age groups, meaning it can be used as a rear facing baby car seat to be used for newborn babies to children of 15-18 months of age, the seat is then easily switched to a forward-facing toddler car seat, suited for the older age groups (depending on weight), which includes toddlers of 18 months to children of four years of age.
To request UberFamily, riders simply need to request ‘UberVan + CARSEAT,’ located above the UberSUV option.
Pricing of UberFamily is consistent with that of UberVAN (R22 Base fare, R1.6 p/m, R16 p/km, R75 Min Fare).
The offer is exclusive to Johannesburg at the moment during this trial phase.
