You can now safely Uber with small kids

If you’re of a certain age, you might only think of Uber as a safe way to get around after a raucous night out, but there’s clearly a demand for the service among people with small kids. That much is evident from the launch of UberFamily, a new service aimed at riders travelling with children under the age of three years old.

Launched in Johannesburg on Friday, UberFamily trial aims to cater for families travelling with a child of this age by equipping experienced partner drivers with car seats.

“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. 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”, says Alon Lits, Uber’s General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa.

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“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.

UberFamily vehicles will make use of MiloFix car seats, provided by Maxi-Cosi. The Maxi-Cosi MiloFix 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.

The MiloFix car seats cater for children up to 18kg and are strongly connected to ISOFIX anchorages of the car. ISOFIX is an international, standardised fitting system. Each Maxi-Cosi car seat is tailored to the needs of the child it covers. Maxi-Cosi car seats are tested in excess of the most stringent legal safety standard while offering the highest level of comfort and convenience.

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“As a company we are always looking to add innovative and customer-centric options to the platform,” says Lits. “We are looking forward to the response UberFamily receives in Johannesburg over the next month. The service is experimental and depending on the feedback and demand, UberFamily could be available in the other provinces we operate soon”.

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).