Last year, Uber introduced a new option for teens to order rides from Uber without needing their parents' account. What started as a limited program in 14 cities and metro areas has expanded to over 250 cities in all 50 states. If your teen needs to get somewhere safely, and you can't take them there yourself, it seems like a great option.
As The Verge reports, Uber is expanding this program: Before, only teens could order these rides for themselves, which, while useful, was limited. Going forward, the company is now allowing parents and guardians to order rides for their teens from the parent's own account. That way, if your teen has to be somewhere, you can book the the ride for them, and bypass their insistence that their irresponsible friend with a fresh license should drive them instead.
There are other updates to the program, as well. Your teen can now schedule rides, including as far out as 90 days, or as soon as 30 minutes from now. If you pay for Uber One, you can pass on the perks to your teen. That includes free Uber Eats delivery fees and occasional cash back on rides.
Whether you or your teen books the ride, it will come with Uber's safety features, like notifications when the ride starts, and the ability to track the ride in real time.
It's a neat feature, and one I expect other ride-sharing apps to implement down the road. (No pun intended.) That said, Uber is currently the only service to offer teen accounts at all, let alone the option to order a ride for your teen. Perhaps other services don't want the liability of dealing with minors, but there are plenty of times when it makes sense for teenagers to have a guaranteed, safe ride wherever they're going. Especially in the United States, which is heavily car-dependent. Wouldn't you rather your teen have a ride from a vetted driver you can track, than a random 16-year-old you can't?
