Eleanor Yap
As our population ages, there is an increased need for services such as escort ad transport to help seniors with mobility issues gain access to healthcare and other services. With this in mind, last year Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) partnered with Uber on its relaunch of uberASSIST to outreach to its network of driver-partners in getting them to help seniors get from place to place.
Not only can they help on this but they undergo basic assistance training developed by AIC and trained by qualified professionals so they assist passengers with dementia and/or required assistive devices to move around, such as helping them get in and out of the car. There are more than 500 from the 70 when uberASSIST was first launched in Singapore in 2015 of such driver-partners with vehicles that can accommodate foldable wheelchairs and mobility devices.
Other changes to the relaunched uberASSIST is that previously passengers needed to unlock the uberASSIST vehicle option with a promo code but now it is available to everyone through the app, with no promo code required. According to Uber, the pricing for uberASSIST is similar to uberX.
So how does it work? First, enter your destination in the ‘Where to’ section of the Uber app, scroll right to ‘More’ and tap ‘uberASSIST’ and then tap ‘Confirm uberASSIST’ and your ride will be there within minutes.
(**PHOTO CREDIT: Uber)
As Uber is no longer in Singapore, this service is now under Grab and is called GrabAssist. Details on GrabAssist can be found here – https://www.grab.com/sg/driver/grab-assist/.