By Pascal Oparada
Parents can now concentrate on other tasks both at work and elsewhere as ride-hailing apps for kids emerges.
Just like Lyft and Uber are car services intended for adults, there are apps made with kids as the primary customer.
According to Mashable, these can work since the drivers meet state and local requirements for transporting young people. The companies require extensive background checks, fingerprinting, and clean driving records, along with other standards about driving habits and vehicle condition.
Parents using the apps can track where and when kids got picked up in real-time and see when they make it to their destination. It is like when a friend sends over their ride so you can track when they’ll finally meet up.
The kid-friendly ride-hailing scene is still fairly small and mostly found in a few major metro areas across the U.S. For those determined to find a Lyft-like service for kids these apps are available.
Last year a survey from a kid ride-sharing service found that nearly 40 percent of parents with kids between the ages of 6 and 17 spend more than 5 hours a week driving their kids to school and activities. With only 168 hours in a week, offloading that time to a car service can seem like a saving grace.
So several companies have stepped up to shuttle kids around. Despite Uber’s popularity, they and similar ride-hailing apps don’t allow unaccompanied minors.
The apps are: HopSkipDrive, Zum, and Kango among others.