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This 'Uber for children' promises to give kids a safe ride to school, activities

HopSkipDrive Joanna McFarland was talking to a group … Continued The post These parents think they can beat Uber by focusing on one thing: your kids appeared first on Business Insider.

Janelle McGlothlin, Joanna McFarland and Carolyn Yashari Becher know firsthand the struggle involved with getting their kids to and from school and extracurricular activities.

Between them they have eight children and it was a “constant” battle getting them to activities such as soccer, karate, tennis and dance.

That’s when the three of them decided to create HopSkipDrive, a ride-hailing app similar to Uber but aimed to help ease some of that burden and hoped meet parents’ justifiably high safety expectations.

Uber does not provide rides to users under the age of 18, unless they are accompanied by an adult.

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“We knew that we were solving a problem that is a major pain-point for families on a daily basis,” Janelle McGlothlin, co-founder and CMO of HopSkipDrive, told Yahoo Finance Canada by email.

“Every parent wants the best for their kids. They want to give them all the opportunities they deserve, but sometimes transportation is the hurdle.”

The service launched in Los Angeles, Calif. in March of last year and has since expanded to Orange County and San Francisco. McGlothlin said so far HopSkipDrive has provided tens of thousands of rides to children ages six and up, and is relied upon by thousands of families in those three cities.

HopSkipDrive has received US$14.1 million in funding and is hoping to eventually expand beyond California. To this point, it has been most successful in attracting new users via word of mouth and what McGlothlin called the “mom network.”

But it isn’t the only company that has attempted to compete for the attention of frustrated parents.

In 2014, Shuddle raised $12 million, according to the New York Times, but it has since ceased operations.

Meanwhile, other companies such as Boost, a youth transportation service that is the brain child of the Mercedes-Benz research and development headquarters in Silicon Valley, and Zum, which provides babysitting as well as rides for children between the ages of five and 15, are fighting for a share of the market.

The cost of a HopSkipDrive fare starts at $20, but can drop as low as $14 with the purchase of a bulk package of 30 rides. Zum starts at $16 and Boost $22.

To ease the concerns of parents, they provide an added level of background checks, communication and tracking that Uber and other ride-sharing services do not typically have.

HopSkipDrive has a driver certification process that requires them to meet a 15-point criteria, which includes:

  • They must love children and have at least five years of childcare experience

  • No criminal record

  • No sex offender record

  • Valid drivers licence

  • Clean driving record

  • Must be at least 23 years of age

  • Own or lease a vehicle not more than 10 years old that seats four to seven passengers

  • The vehicle must pass a 19-point inspection by a certified mechanic

  • Drivers must conduct a one-on-one interview with HopSkipDrive

  • Drivers must have personal and professional references

  • Drivers must have personal auto insurance

The background check also includes fingerprinting and Trustline registration, a nanny and babysitter database that the company calls the “gold standard for caregivers in California.”

HopSkipDrive provides further measures to ensure that parents are comfortable.

When users are matched with a driver, the company sends a profile to the parent, which includes photos of the driver and their car, their qualification and a personal statement.

The company says its drivers are parents, nannies, teachers, nurses and professional drivers.

On the day of the ride, parents will also receive a reminder email with the same information.

The drivers arrive wearing an orange company shirt and provide the child with a code word, which has been previously set up by their parents.

One final layer of security is provided by the company’s app, which lets parents monitor the ride in real-time.

“As moms, we designed this service with all of the safety measures built in that would make us comfortable,” said McGlothlin.

“Our own children use HopSkipDrive on a regular basis, so if we wouldn’t put our kids in a HopSkipDrive car, we wouldn’t tell other families to put their kids in the car. We work very hard to give parents peace of mind that their kids are very safe.”

Despite the precautions, Janette Fennell, founder and president of the child-safety non-profit Kids and Cars, said she has several concerns about HopSkipDrive’s services.

In particular, Fennell worried about the consequences for children when drivers are late because of traffic in large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles or miss pickups and drop-offs because of sickness or other reasons.

“What do you do if the driver gets sick or something happens? Is that child just left to get standing, waiting, waiting and waiting? Or, do they have backup plans?" she said.

Fennell said if the company sends a new driver in this case that can also be cause for “concern” because the child won’t know what they look like.

Parents receive a push notification when children have been picked up or dropped off, but Fennell was also unconvinced that drivers would make sure and walk in to their destinations with them.

HopSkipDrive also cannot guarantee users that they will always receive the same driver for different rides, which Fennell said could prove to be a difficult adjustment for some children

“I think (it) would be very unsettling to young children, like sort of ‘Who’s this person? I’m used to having Sandra be there, but instead Maria shows up and I don’t really know Maria,” she said.

Fennell also said there could be issues with car seats. HopSkipDrive does not provide car seats, and only will offer rides for children that require them if their parents install themselves and ride along. The company does, however, provide a standard booster seat for children seven years and up.

An example of the booster seats provided by HopSkipDrive is seen here.
An example of the booster seats provided by HopSkipDrive is seen here.

The problem is, Fennell said, is that children are a range of different sizes.

“On any given day, based on the child’s age and size … I couldn’t even imagine that all of your drivers would have all the different and particular car seats that might be needed,” she said.

“Maybe the thought process is, ‘one booster seat fits all,’ but that’s not really the reality.”

She recommended that parents who decide to use the service do so with their older children.

Despite her reluctance to endorse ride-hailing services for children, Fennell understands their appeal and knows first-hand the “nightmare” involved with getting children to and from all their activities.

“As the mother some of the ways I’ve dealt with it is in terms of divide and conquer … take care of some other kids and have a friend do other kids going to another place … but something like this certainly would’ve been nice to have,” she said.