My daughter does it all the time. I don't understand the concern.

Anonymous wrote:I realize that it is different for boys than for girls, but my 15-year old son has been taking Uber around NW DC for months. No problems at all - and I think it is safer than having him just hail a cab - there is a record of the pickup and dropoff, the drivers are screened, etc.

Same. I feel safer with my kid in an Uber than I do having him ride the Metro alone at night (after rush hour). I felt the same way about my daughter as well (she's now 19 and off in college).

I wish Uber/Lyft/Rydz had been a thing when I was a teen instead of having use cabs and our small town sketchy bus service. I missed 2 weeks of school due to a surgery, which meant I didn't have enough classroom hours and couldn't pass driver's ed in school so I had to take it over the summer. My mom could drop me off at the bus stop each morning, but both parents worked and the bus stop was too far for me to walk home in the afternoons, so my mom scheduled for me to be picked up by a taxi each day. The first day the taxi pulled up, he had another a guy in the passenger seat with him and said it was his cousin who was "hanging" with him for the day. They went a very long, convoluted way back to my house to run up the fare (didn't realize that part) and I was 100% convinced I was being taken somewhere to be killed.

I'd rather my kid take an Uber where I can see the driver information versus taking a taxi where the information is unknown to me as is their route. That feels very unsafe to me, IMO.

There's always a line of Ubers picking up kids from sports practice each evening where I live.

OP here

I hadn't heard of Rydz but this would be perfect since we need driving at set times each week. Curious to hear any more feedback about this service.

every time I feel like I could be OK with this, I have an borderline Uber experience and it sets me right back to no.

We used it for our 15 year old a few times and all was fine.

Kid communicated with me that she needed the Uber ordered, I did the ordering, sent the details of the driver and car to her via screenshot, and then I was able to monitor her trip home. It felt safer doing it that way because I was able to watch the trip vs. her having Uber on her phone and ordering one for herself.

No. You don't know who that driver is. You don't want your daughter to get attacked.

In fact, I would not even let a son that age take Uber. Those drivers have sexually assaulted teenage boys, too.

I'd have to look it up again, but I thought both Lyft and Uber have policies that riders have to be 16+ years old

I have three kids: boy, 16, girl, 14, and girl, 11. For my son, I'm fine with him taking Lyft. I'm not fine with it for my daughters at their ages, though. For them, I have an account with Rydz (catchrydz.com, used to be called rydz4kids when I first started). The drivers are scrutinized much more carefully. It's not instantaneous scheduling like using the Lyft app, but usually I know when I need rides for the girls (like from school to an activity when it's too early for me to leave work, or from activity home when I have a conflict). I get texts telling me exactly who the driver will be, incl. car make/model/license, as well as texts saying "on the way," "en route," and "dropped off" so I know that pick-up and drop-off have happened. It's more expensive than Lyft but not exorbitantly so for the distances/times I need the service.

I realize it's a double standard, but I'm not sure what we will do when my daughters are 16 -- we will have to wait and see if I feel comfortable then. In the meantime though I'd rather use Rydz.

I realize that it is different for boys than for girls, but my 15-year old son has been taking Uber around NW DC for months. No problems at all - and I think it is safer than having him just hail a cab - there is a record of the pickup and dropoff, the drivers are screened, etc.

Anonymous wrote:I thought uber policy was to not accept rides for unaccompanied minors? I can see where drivers would not accept liability for this, as there is not a system in place for it. When kids fly unaccompanied there are release forms and ID checks on both ends of the trip-you can’t just drop the kid off at the airport. As a parent I wouldn’t be comfortable having my teen use uber or taxi unaccompanied.

My 16 year old regularly used it, then one time (when he really needed to get somewhere) the driver refused to take him pointing out that it's Uber's policy to not have their drivers transport unaccompanied minors. Drivers can lose their right to drive for Uber for violating that policy.

I would only do it with female drivers.

I thought uber policy was to not accept rides for unaccompanied minors? I can see where drivers would not accept liability for this, as there is not a system in place for it. When kids fly unaccompanied there are release forms and ID checks on both ends of the trip-you can’t just drop the kid off at the airport. As a parent I wouldn’t be comfortable having my teen use uber or taxi unaccompanied.

I was in the position of really needing to use it while my husband was deployed and used it probably a dozen times, however it was with 15 year old twins so they had each other in the car. That said, we never had any issues. I wish there was an option to choose a female as most were 40-60 year old males. This technically violates Uber policy, so the driver can turn them down, although we never have had it happen. Some friends of my kids have though.

Hoping to hear more from BTDT parents.

My one rule would be to use Uber Black only, not Uber X or share, etc. And there is now a feature in the Uber app that allows you to send your ride details to someone else, so they can track you. So make that two rules.

I am considering having my 15 yr old DD use uber (or lyft) on a regular basis (2X per week) to get home from sports practice. She would be taking Uber by herself around 5:30pm in the evening.

She is very responsible and independent, but of course, I don't want to put her in an uncomfortable or unsafe position.

Thoughts?