Despite the following warning posted on the Andover website, we let DC use uber with a friend to get back to campus from Logan after spring break:
“Due to the growing number of published incidents and recent experiences of some community members, the Public Safety Office strongly counsels all to refrain from contracting Uber for your transportation service.”
I’m wondering what experiences and wisdom folks have about these transportation options.
DD and her friends use Uber on a weekly basis to get from SPS to places in downtown Concord, but that’s a very short ride (and very expensive for the distance; makes me wonder if Uber has any clients in Concord besides the SPS kids). No issues so far.
(Mom with very limited knowledge here) Do all schools not offer their own shuttle service to the airport? The Hill has shuttles to Philly airport, Philly train station, and to JFK. They also have what they call Blu Uber on weekends where someone from school will take them wherever they want to go.
Its not clear from the article - do those same background checks apply to Taxi & Limo drivers? I am a bit uncomfortable allowing my son use Uber or Lyft but perhaps I’m being biased due to some unproven feeling that Taxi & Limo drivers undergo greater scrutiny.
DD uses Uber regularly. We have trained her to text a screenshot of Uber driver & license (from Uber app) as soon as her request is accepted, even before she gets into the car.
Uber has a ‘Share my trip’ feature where we can track the Uber throughout the ride. DD enables that for all rides and we have tracked that or been on the phone with her talking (Edit: for long rides through remote areas), especially when she was traveling alone out of the country.
My D has not used uber (et al) & I am reluctant to go there even now that she is in college. I feel licensed shuttle services, in her case fairly small operations, have more immediate accountability and customer service access.
Even so, I was not entirely comfortable with my underage D alone in a vehicle for many miles through sparsley populated areas. Sometimes we lucked out on a favorite driver that we could request. She liked having a woman driver as it was less embarassing to ask for a bathroom stop.
I like @Mom22DDs approach, will use it when the time comes. And I will pay attention to future developments in background checks. I know there are many fine people driving for uber. My primary objection is from workers viewpoint, the people and companies whose livelihoods are being disrupted.
Both my daughters use uber all the time, and DH and I have often as well. So far so good and my personal experiences have to a one been very positive. Both my daughters always use the share my ride app with me so I not only know the car that they are in, time of pick up and drop off but can also follow their ride on a little map if I want (I usually don’t).
Grier doesn’t allow students to take taxi or ride-share, even thou I would have allowed ride-sharing if the school did. It doesn’t even allow students to leave school ground without a faculty.
I would suggest investigating all of the local options before you need them. When my daughter was at Hotchkiss there were very few transportation choices. I think there was one taxi service (which had smoky cars and drivers that texted constantly while driving) and one limo type service (which was good but didn’t always answer the phone and was significantly more expensive.) No Uber or Lyft. No airport shuttles. On vacations the school would sometimes arrange buses to the NY train or to Boston.
I take Uber all of the time. Never had a problem. I think that there’s a stigma around it because it’s literally “getting into a car with a stranger”, but I really do think that it’s safe. Even if something were to go terribly wrong, Uber tracks its drivers, and knows the customer in each car, and the car type, and its license plate.
I agree with shuttles but sometimes they don’t work with flight times. I allow both my kids to use Uber and Lyft. My kids look at ratings, match cars and drivers before they get in. I would be concerned about pooling with unknown people, unless they are also other Andover kids and they go straight to airport.
There was a service in Boston called Concierge Moms for BS and college kids that I looked into mostly because I was concerned about flights getting cancelled due to weather. I think they offer service to drive kid to airport. They have a website.
At SFO, some car service companies do offer a service when they transport kids under 18 to summer camps from the airport and back. I’ve used this for my younger son. I’ve been charged extra but the drivers (so far they have been off duty firemen) text me a pic of them first so kid knows what driver looks like, get my kid’s cell number and pic of my kid, they meet kid at security and take them to baggage (reverse is same), they text me when they have my kid and deliver them to camp. They even had snacks in the car that my kid liked. My kid has never said that a driver texted, he said they have always talked to him. They will call me on the phone if they encounter traffic and will be delayed and they also let the camp know if they will be delayed.
Uber tracks riders and drivers, but if you know anyone who has ever had an issue with Uber, they will tell you it is nearly impossible to get through to a human being there for help or resolution.
