If you are like me, you know a senior citizen who needs a ride somewhere occasionally but can’t drive or access public transit and doesn’t use a smartphone or apps to hail a ride sharing service. Well Uber is now making it easier to arrange a ride for someone else.
According to an article in today’s Spokesman-Review, the company yesterday launched a feature in more than 30 countries that lets Uber app users book a ride for someone other than themselves.
When an Uber customer uses the app and chooses a pick-up address different from what their phone’s GPS detects as its current location, the app asks if they are booking a ride for someone else. Customers can then select a rider from their address book, set a destination and request the ride. The rider doesn’t need to have an Uber account. The passenger will receive a link to track the driver’s route, as well as a text message with information such as the driver’s name and license plate number. The person requesting the ride will also be able to track it with the app.
Until now, drivers could only communicate with the person booking the ride, and others passengers had no way of contacting the driver. Rides are charged to the credit card of the person who requested the ride.