Parking Has Eaten American Cities

[JManc]

A 15 year-old takes Uber? Seriously? Am I that out of touch?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by JManc

A 15 year-old takes Uber? Seriously? Am I that out of touch?

Don't you need to have a credit/debit card for Uber? I don't think too many 15 year olds have that.

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

That's because today's kiddos take Uber, instead of walking/riding bikes.

When I was around 15, my best friend and I once rode our mountain bikes 14 miles to get to a mall. I bought a cookie and a drink, only to turn around and ride back home.

Summer break can get boring after a few weeks.

I used to ride my bike all day (and sometimes all night) all over my neighborhood back in the 80s and early 90s. I even rode to stores and such (not 14 miles away, but maybe 5).

Fast forward 30 years and I now have 2 young boys of my own, and we actually live in the same neighborhood. I want them to experience the same joy and freedom of being a kid and riding your bikes all over the place, but I hesitate... the neighborhood has grown immensely, and certain streets have so much more traffic and speeds and distracted drivers.

I also NEVER ONCE wore a helmet... I'm pretty sure I'll have my kids wear one now.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Don't you need to have a credit/debit card for Uber? I don't think too many 15 year olds have that.

There's "Uber Cash" which allows you to prepay. Parents or anybody could create a sufficient balance.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

There's "Uber Cash" which allows you to prepay. Parents or anybody could create a sufficient balance.

I dunno, I have a hard time thinking that many parents would prepay an uber account for their kid.

I mean, it's six years yet till my daughter's 15, but I'd much rather she take the public bus. It's cheaper, stops right outside our front door, and there are always other people there besides her and the driver.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

A 15 year-old takes Uber? Seriously? Am I that out of touch?

Not specifically:

Uber Says No Kids—These Other Car Services Say Yes
By Julie Jargon
May 7, 2019 5:30 am ET

This is the state of parenthood today: overbooked children and overworked parents scrambling to get places.

Driven mad by the child-chauffeuring dilemma, parents are naturally looking to outsource the job to ride-hailing services. Unfortunately, the biggest companies, Uber and Lyft, forbid drivers from picking up any unaccompanied riders under 18.

“Account holders who allow their children to access their accounts risk losing access to Uber,” a spokeswoman for Uber Technologies Inc. said. A Lyft Inc. LYFT -4.64% spokeswoman said drivers who suspect their passenger may be an unaccompanied minor can request to see an ID.

Many parents go ahead anyway, in open defiance of the rules. But others are turning to new services such as HopSkipDrive, which is designed for the 6-and-up set . . . .

HopSkipDrive is one of a few app-related ride-hailing services that have cropped up in recent years to transport children. Others include Zūm, Kango and Bubbl.

Uber piloted a teen program in 2017 in Phoenix, Seattle and Columbus, Ohio. The Uber spokeswoman said the company is using what it learned from the test to plan for “how to best serve families in the future,” but declined to say whether it’s considering rolling out an under-18 service . . . .

Some parents prefer using their own Uber accounts, despite the age rules, because they don’t have to schedule rides at least eight hours in advance, like they do with HopSkipDrive. Uber and Lyft are also much cheaper.

Ride-Hailing Services for Children

Bubbl
Service areas: Dallas and Austin, Texas, Emerald Coast, Fla., Greenwich, Conn., and McLean, Va.

Cost: $17 minimum fare

Requirements: Unaccompanied riders must be at least 8. Drivers must be off-duty or honorably discharged military servicemen and women, veterans or first responders who undergo background checks.

HopSkipDrive
Service areas: Parts of Northern and Southern California, Colorado and the Washington, D.C., metro area, including northern Virginia

Cost: The average one-way trip, about 7 miles, costs $20 to $25.

Requirements: Unaccompanied riders must be at least 6. All drivers must have five years of child-care experience and undergo background checks.

Kango
Service areas: Parts of Northern and Southern California

Cost: $16 minimum fare. Drivers can also babysit a child for between $15 and $20 an hour.

Requirements: Unaccompanied riders must be at least 2. Drivers and sitters must have at least three years of child-care experience and undergo background checks.

Via
Service areas: Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C.

Cost: Fares start at less than $5 for short rides. Riders can purchase a weekly or monthly pass to make rides more affordable.

Requirements: Unaccompanied riders must be at least 13. Drivers undergo background checks.

Zūm
Service areas: Parts of California, including Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area

Cost: Fares start at $16. Drivers can babysit for an extra charge.

Requirements: Unaccompanied riders must be at least 5. Drivers must have previous child-care experience and undergo background checks.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-sa...&page=1&pos=14

Actually, there a proliferation of these targeted ridesharing services. There's one for seniors needing rides to and from medical appointments for example. It called Silverride. For example, I'm having an outpatient "procedure" in a few weeks and they won't do it unless I have an escort to drive me home. This service will do that if you don't have a friend who can get off work.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I dunno, I have a hard time thinking that many parents would prepay an uber account for their kid.

I mean, it's six years yet till my daughter's 15, but I'd much rather she take the public bus. It's cheaper, stops right outside our front door, and there are always other people there besides her and the driver.

See above. Some parents do it. But there are other options.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I dunno, I have a hard time thinking that many parents would prepay an uber account for their kid.

I mean, it's six years yet till my daughter's 15, but I'd much rather she take the public bus. It's cheaper, stops right outside our front door, and there are always other people there besides her and the driver.

There are lots of young kids taking rideshare alone. KidCar, KidMoto, etc. My kid is only 2, so no way, but at 7 or so, I'd probably do it.

Of course many upper income households have nannies accompanying kids in rideshare. Or in suburban America the nanny uses a family vehicle for ferrying the kids.

[JManc]

Rideshares for an 8 year-old says a lot about us as a society when parents are too busy (or lazy) to take the time to give their kid a ride somewhere that they are willing to entrust them with a stranger.

[Buckeye Native 001]

So all that stranger danger stuff I was told growing up is null?

[10023]

Originally Posted by JManc

Rideshares for an 8 year-old says a lot about us as a society when parents are too busy (or lazy) to take the time to give their kid a ride somewhere that they are willing to entrust them with a stranger.

What if the parents both work?

[iheartthed]

I think 8 is a little young, but sending a teenager somewhere in Uber is hardly child abuse. I know parents who have sent their teens to school using Uber.

[jtown,man]

Someone mentioned letting their young teen(I think?) ride around their neighborhood but have hesitations about it. I feel the same. My only rule as a 4th grader was that I couldn't leave the house until 8am and had to be home at 7:30. I spent that time WISELY. I would explore my neighborhoods or go really far away(took the train from Zama to Shinjuku in fourth grade). Sure, I was in Japan, a very safe country. However, I want my kid to have the same experiences I had. I want them to fall in love with exploring urbanity. To have a damn adventure.

But I will be hesitant. I will hesitate because I'd worry they will be run over by a car. I will worry that others will think I am a bad parent etc. etc. etc. But I hope I still let them go out and adventure. I owe my current obsession with cities because of my adventures as a kid.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Someone mentioned letting their young teen(I think?) ride around their neighborhood but have hesitations about it. I feel the same. My only rule as a 4th grader was that I couldn't leave the house until 8am and had to be home at 7:30. I spent that time WISELY. I would explore my neighborhoods or go really far away(took the train from Zama to Shinjuku in fourth grade). Sure, I was in Japan, a very safe country. However, I want my kid to have the same experiences I had. I want them to fall in love with exploring urbanity. To have a damn adventure.

But I will be hesitant. I will hesitate because I'd worry they will be run over by a car. I will worry that others will think I am a bad parent etc. etc. etc. But I hope I still let them go out and adventure. I owe my current obsession with cities because of my adventures as a kid.

As a 6 year old in a Washington DC suburb, I and all my friends walked or biked to school alone (that is, without parents). There were no particular limits on my range and as I got somewhat older, we biked to strip centers and such a few miles from home and hiked in nearby woods and to a local reservoir on a regular basis. From about 14 on--9th grade--I took the bus to my suburb's shopping district and even into Washington DC with friends (ultimatey I researched high school term papers at the Library of Congress).

At 16. like every teen, I got a driver's license and went where I wanted (making Uber at 15 seem insignificant). And at 18 I went away to college and total freedom.

I have read that statistics do NOT show that kids today are in any more real danger than in my childhood. I just think the ubiquity of media makes everyone more frightened. And the result is that kids are probably excessively parented making them, frankly, wusses.

[harryc]

My kids ride all over town, even after they have licenses and cars they still ride their bikes to things within a mile or so.

might have something to do with their upbringing.

The Days of Film by Harry Carmichael, on Flickr

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JManc

A 15 year-old takes Uber? Seriously? Am I that out of touch?

I have teens in that age range and they don't take Uber - though they've never asked. I actually wouldn't let them take a taxi alone either. Though I might let them if they were with a friend.

They take city buses alone, together or with friends all the time. They're allowed to do so into the evening hours. But not alone late at night.

BTW I live in a city which probably epitomizes what Americans think of when they think of "safe Canadian cities".

[Pedestrian]

^^It mystifies me that you think a city bus is safer than a taxi or even ridesharing. I've been frightened on city busses myself and I'm pretty hard-shelled. But never in Uber or a taxi.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

^^It mystifies me that you think a city bus is safer than a taxi or even ridesharing. I've been frightened on city busses myself and I'm pretty hard-shelled. But never in Uber or a taxi.

I think it has to do with that it's a public space rather than alone in a car with a stranger. I never felt uncomfortable on the bus but the train or subway is a different matter.

[Acajack]

I am very big on "safety in numbers", and I've never been proven wrong. So far anyway.

Transit here does expose you to a diverse range of people, but it's never a threatening experience.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JManc

I think it has to do with that it's a public space rather than alone in a car with a stranger..

Especially Uber. Any Joe Schmo can be a Uber driver, right? They don't do safety or background checks on their drivers, right?