We all know how hard it is accessing taxis and Rideshares with our assistance dogs, however, Uber has recently released a service for people with assistance animals giving them access to safe, affordable and reliable transport.
To help address this, they have introduced a new program which allows riders with assistance animals to opt in for additional support.
Uber is offering the following-
Dedicated phone support: Program participants are given an exclusive number to get help from specially trained Uber agents.
On-trip education: As soon as a driver-partner accepts a trip from a participant, they’re reminded of their legal obligations.
Proactive cancellation reviews: If a participant’s ride is cancelled, Uber will be able to review to determine whether there has been a breach of Uber’s Community Guidelines related to service animal refusal.
If you know someone with a assistance animal and you think they might like to be part of the program, please forward this post to them so they can opt in with the link below.
What you need to know:
This program is free and completely voluntary. Participants can choose to opt in or out at any time.
Accessibility needs of program participants will not be published on any public forums or made visible to driver-partners at the time of request.
None of the features will impact wait times or reliability of the Uber App for those who opt-in to the program.
More information can be found here.
https://www.uber.com/en-AU/newsroom/sapinitiative/
We thank Uber for this new program and hope more companies will follow in their footsteps.
If you or someone you know is suffering from a mental health disorder and feel an assistance dog could help.
Contact Pat Dogs Australia Limited for more information.