In recent years, Uber has become one of the most popular ridesharing apps, and is used daily by hundreds of people. Uber allows users to remotely request a ride, and wait only a few minutes for a nearby driver to pick them up and deliver them to their requested location. This technology has made travel much more efficient for certain situations where people may not have access to their cars or public transit. However, there is a glaring issue with Uber’s policy, which directly harms vulnerable youth and disregards their struggles.
What is Uber’s 18+ Policy?
According to Uber’s terms of service, Uber requires riders to be at least 18 years old to create and use a standard, independent Uber account. This bars juveniles from being able to independently use the app and request rides for themselves. This immediately brings up several concerns with how blatantly discriminatory it is. First of all, minors tend to be more in need of ridesharing apps, and other public transportation services due to the fact that they don’t always have access to their own cars. Therefore, if they need to get to their job, but lack a vehicle to do so, a ridesharing app would be the perfect workaround. But Uber’s policy prevents teens from having the personal freedom to request their own rides using the app.
For those under 18, Uber offers a “Teen Account” program in select cities. Teens aged 13 to 17 can have accounts, but these must be linked to a parent or guardian’s account and with parental permission. This is intended to mitigate certain situations where teens need access to the app in order to get to their job, school activities, or anywhere else their parents would approve of. But due to its limited nature, it disregards any circumstance that doesn’t fit into the narrow range these accounts are active. Since teen accounts operate only in certain cities, this leaves out any other teen who needs to use Uber to get to a job or activity, but lives in a more rural area. The way the teen accounts are structured is discriminatory towards people who don’t have access to them. And whenever teens try to use the app normally, Uber has begun to enforce digital ID verification as a method of preventing teenagers from accessing the app.
Risks that people bring up when discussing minors being able to use uber, is that they are more vulnerable, so therefore, they shouldn’t be in a car alone with a stranger who could hypothetically do them harm. This mindset likely comes in the wake of certain cases where uber drivers had allegedly assaulted their passengers. For example, in June 2024, surveillance video captured an Uber driver allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in his vehicle outside her apartment in South Boston. However, these concerns do not justify Uber’s 18+ policy.
These concerns are not just related to juveniles specifically using Uber, but are risks for any individual who uses the app. Therefore, these instances show how Uber should focus on improving their precautions in how they vet their drivers. If the mindset of Uber is “we’re protecting minors from harm by not letting them use the app”, then that is by proxy admitting that their app isn’t safe, and therefore everyone could protect themselves from harm by not using it. Simply put, their policy isn’t actually for the protection of minors, it’s to protect themselves from unwanted negligence lawsuits. In reality, barring juveniles from accessing ridesharing within their app actually provides more harm than good.
How the Policy Harms Vulnerable Youth
Uber’s policies regarding minors are more harmful for vulnerable youth, than beneficial for their safety. First of all, the ability to access a ridesharing service like Uber could be extremely important in certain situations like abuse, which youth could find themselves caught up in. For example, if a teen finds themself at a party with friends where the situation quickly becomes uncomfortable, it would be beneficial to their safety for them to escape that situation immediately. This could occur for many reasons, such as a fight breaking out, alcohol or drugs being introduced, or any other situation that a teen wouldn’t want to be in. If in that circumstance, they were driven to the party by their friend, therefore they don’t have a car of their own, and can’t convince their ride to leave with them, they would be completely out of luck. If they can’t find a ride home, they would be forced to either stay at the potentially dangerous situation, or walk home, which could provide other safety risks. Sure, they could contact a parent or other family member to pick them up, but the time spent waiting exposes them to more potential harm. Along with that, not every teen has a family member which can easily drop everything, at all moments of the day and night to pick them up.
In that circumstance, a ridesharing app like uber provides the safest, quickest, and easiest way for a vulnerable teenager to escape from the uncomfortable situation they had found themselves in. People may argue that the Uber teen account mitigates this problem, by allowing teenagers to legally use Uber. However, the teen account poses major problems, such as not being available in all locations. If this hypothetical party is taking place in the middle of the night, and the minor’s parents are asleep, then they couldn’t approve the ride, thus rendering the teen account useless. Minors being able to use Uber completely free of any restrictions would be the most efficient way to allow them to escape unwanted situations, and avoid harm.
Another major problem with the teen account, is the very fact that the parents get to control it. This poses a major risk to teen safety, because it forces any minor wishing to use Uber to rely on their parents to go anywhere on the app. The biggest safety concern is if the parents or guardians were actually the source of the unsafe situation which a teenager is trying to escape. For example, if a child is in an abusive circumstance at home, and needs a quick way to get to a relative or friend’s house for safety, ridesharing apps can provide an easy way for them to do so. But obviously, the parent wouldn’t approve of the child using Uber to escape their abusive clutches, once again rendering the teen account useless to vulnerable minors who need it most. On the other hand, if there were no restrictions on a teen’s ability to use Uber, the app would provide an easy, much needed escape from the threatening home situation the teen was unfortunately caught up in.
The disturbingly sad part about this, is the fact that youth who are disproportionately affected by these circumstances, are the ones who are especially vulnerable. Older teenagers who have access to cars have a much greater freedom of movement, and can use their own vehicles to get out of any uncomfortable situation they are in. However, younger minors—or those from poorer homes without access to cars—are those who would be more vulnerable to abusive environments within their home life, and are the ones who don’t get an easy exit. They don’t have their own car, they can’t just jump in and escape. If they don’t have another relative to call, they’re out of luck, forced to live through the horrors of abuse or experience whatever uncomfortable situation they were caught in. In the absence of other methods of reprieve from their environment, they would likely try and turn to anything they can to remove themselves from the situation—and unfortunately, Uber’s age policies compound on the struggle that these youth would face.
I can say from my own experiences, this issue has directly affected me. When I was 15 years old, I was going through a brutal custody battle between my divorced parents. My father had been the source of the conflict, trying to assert his control by any means necessary. Even though he had proven to be reckless, impulsive, and to not have my best interest in mind, the court still forced me to go see him, despite my unwillingness. Due to the tension of the situation, the time I spent with my father ended up erupting into a physical altercation between us. Afterwards, I no longer felt safe in that environment, so I took my bag and left, wanting to escape. My father proceeded to follow me around the neighbourhood in his car, while I attempted to get away from him. Eventually, I led him into a high traffic area, and lost him. Knowing this was my chance to get free from the dangerous situation, my first thought was to use Uber to find a ride back home. However, my Uber account was compromised, and it required that I verified my ID in order to prove that I was over 18 years old. This, of course, was impossible.
At that moment, I had no clue how I was going to get home. I had no clue how I was going to free myself from the terrifying chain of events that had unfolded as a result of the court’s and Uber’s lack of respect for my own self agency. And now because of that, I was fearing that I would be trapped there. I still remember the visceral panic that came with me running away from my dad’s car chasing me, and me thinking if I was just able to lose him, I’d be able to call an Uber and escape. However, that was not the case, and my basic freedom of movement was restricted just because of my age, with absolutely no care in the world for the situation I was in.
Rethinking my method of escape, I hid at a nearby field, and looked for different options. Eventually, I settled on calling my grandma to come and get me. Though, she lived almost 40 minutes away, which meant I would have to wait much longer than I would if I had been able to request an Uber properly in my moment of need. Every minute I waited for her to arrive, I was in fear of my dad eventually finding me. Every moment that I was still in the neighbourhood, I was constantly worried. Even though I was able to successfully free myself from the tumultuous situation I had wound up in, not everyone has the same options.
Imagine a child in the same circumstance as me—however—they don’t have a grandma to call who would be willing to drop everything and come pick them up. Imagine a child with an Uber teen account, who attempted to request a ride to escape a dangerous situation involving a parent, but the parent canceled the ride to keep them trapped in their possession. Imagine every child living the horrors of an abusive home life who is stuck in the mud, without any freedom of movement, just because of their age. Uber and other ridesharing apps could be the perfect reprieve for these children. But Uber doesn’t care about the rights of vulnerable juveniles who could benefit from their service, instead, Uber restricts them to avoid any backlash from angry parents, upset that their children can move freely. This is wrong. Uber’s 18+ policy is an example of business discrimination against youth, and needs to end.
The National Youth Rights Association
If you’re interested in Youth Rights, consider volunteering with us. We are always looking for new members and would love to have you on board. If you have a personal story to share, of how a ridesharing app’s age policy negatively impacted your life, or about a general youth rights violation, consider sending us an email at nyra@youthrights.org. We’d love to help get your story out to the world.
The text of Uber’s 18+ Policy, and Why it’s Harmful for Youth © 2026 by Zane “Xillion” Miller is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
