There are a variety of services used by people across the United States to make transportation more convenient. One of the most popular transportation methods today includes the use of ridesharing apps such as Uber. Although these apps are oftentimes the most convenient, there are many strict rules placed against minors making it difficult for them to easily use on their own.
These limitations include requirements such as full parental controls, ID verification systems, and placement into “teen accounts.” Although these restrictions are placed to protect youth, overly strict protections can instead limit an individual’s ability to become independent and gain the experiences needed to develop for the future. Along with this, restricting minors from being able to use ridesharing apps, independently from their parents, prevents them from escaping abusive situations where their parents could be the perpetrators.
Young People deserve a basic freedom of movement, which includes the ability to freely use ridesharing apps—due to their convenience in circumstances where minors do not have their own vehicle. In the following webpage, The National Youth Rights Association explains the age requirements of ridesharing apps, ridesharing app teen account limitations, and how ridesharing app age requirements harm vulnerable youth.
Table of Contents
- Ridesharing Age Policies
- Minimum Age Rules and Teen Accounts by Ridesharing App
- Age Verification Systems for Ridesharing Apps
- Driver Responsibilities for Enforcing Age Policies
- How Ridesharing App Age Requirements Harm Vulnerable Youth
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.
Ridesharing Age Policies
Most ridesharing and ubering apps require users to be at least 18 years of age before they are able to create an independent account. This means that minors are not allowed to request rides on their own unless they receive permission from a parent or guardian. This makes it incredibly difficult for older teens especially who have responsibilities such as part-time jobs, extracurricular activities, and school-related events.
These extra requirements make things inconvenient for both the parent and the minor. Parents are often required to approve each ride, monitor activity, and manage payment, which can be time consuming. For teenagers, having to completely depend on parental approval can limit their independence and make it harder to get to where they need to be in a timely manner.
In addition, ridesharing apps require users to sign contracts before creating an account. Inside of these contracts, further details are explained about the drivers, payment structure, liability limitations, and more. Because contracts are permitted by the law, minors are not able to sign them on their own because most states do not allow individuals under 18 years of age to sign contracts without parental permission. Due to the widespread number of laws placed in regards to minors entering legally binding agreements, all major ridesharing apps have placed age limits for creating independent accounts. For example, the California Family Code § 6700 limits a minor’s ability to enter contracts.
Read more about Legal Contract Age by State
Minimum Age Rules and Teen Accounts by Ridesharing App
Although all ridesharing services tend to have very similar rules, each company has placed their own set of policies in regards to age limitations. Here are the restrictions placed on the most major ridesharing apps worldwide:
Lyft: Must be 18 years of age or older to create an independent account. Lyft offers a Family Account, which automatically places individuals 13-17 years of age into a “Lyft Teen” account. Through this account, parents are able to track rides in real time, manage payments, and request or approve rides. Without a Lyft Teen account, youth are not permitted to take a Lyft ride without an adult, even if granted permission by a parent or guardian vocally or hand written.
Read more about Lyft Age Restrictions for Transporting Minors
Uber: Must be 18 years of age or older to create an independent account. Uber offers “Uber Teens” accounts for individuals between 13-17 years of age. These accounts are required to be fully controlled and managed by a parent or guardian at all times. Uber Teens allows parents to monitor rides in real time, request rides, and require drivers to use PIN verification codes before beginning a trip. In contrast to the Lyft app, Uber Teens allow the minor to request rides independently. However, the teen accounts are only available in certain areas. 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.
Read more about Uber Teens Account
inDrive: Requires individuals to be at least 18 years of age to create an account. inDrive does not offer any youth systems, meaning minors are not able to use their services without the supervision of an adult. Rules may vary depending on location.
Bolt: Requires individuals to be at least 18 years of age to create an account. Bolt does not offer any youth systems, meaning minors are not able to use their services without the supervision of an adult. If a driver suspects an individual may be under 18 years of age, they are allowed to reject their requests.
Grab: Must be 18 years of age to create an independent account. Grab offers a “Family Account,” which allows individuals between 13-17 years of age to be added as “Teen Members” under a parent or guardian account. Through this system, teens are able to request rides on their own. However, parents are fully responsible for payments, monitoring rides in real time, and managing the account.
Read more about Grab Family Account: Terms of Service
DiDi: Requires individuals to be at least 18 years of age to create an account. DiDi does not offer any youth systems, meaning minors are not able to use their services without the supervision of an adult.
Careem: Requires individuals to be at least 18 years of age to create an account. Careem offers a “School Rides” service, which allows minors to ride to and from school. Depending on the region, children may be required to travel with an adult or may ride alone with parental permission.
Read more about Careem Terms & Conditions of School Rides
Age Verification Systems for Ridesharing Apps
To verify the age of users on ridesharing apps, individuals are required to enter self-reported birthdates when creating an account. However, this method is extremely bypassable, which has come to the attention of many major ridesharing companies.
In the past couple of years, ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft have begun placing stronger age verification systems, including requiring users to submit government IDs in order to use their accounts.
These verification systems are usually only put in place when suspicious activity is found under an account, such as reports from drivers of an individual being underage or other unusual account behavior. When an account is flagged, users may be required to upload a government ID to confirm their age. For example, on Lyft, if you are reported by a driver more than once for suspicion of being underage, your account may be suspended, even if the reports are inaccurate. Receiving multiple reports can force users to verify their age using a government ID. However, sharing this type of data to these systems can be extremely dangerous, especially with the possibility of a data breach occurring.
According to research by the Royal United Services Institute, ridesharing apps already collect large amounts of data from users. This data includes ride history, search activity, and in some apps track the riders after leaving the vehicle. Forcing riders to insert even more sensitive information due to age verification policies can make things even more unsafe.
This shows that age verification systems increase the risk of sensitive information being exposed even more than before.
Driver Responsibilities for Enforcing Age Policies
Drivers for ridesharing apps are also required to enforce age policies. If a driver believes that a passenger may be under 18 years of age and requests a trip without the use of a teen account, they are encouraged to cancel or reject the ride. Sometimes, drivers also have the right to ask for identification to confirm a rider’s age.
Drivers have the ability to report accounts they suspect are minors. These reports cause the individual’s account to receive a warning, suspension, or full removal from the platform.
Although these enforcements are put in place to protect youth, they can instead lead to even more dangers for the underage individual, numerous inaccurate reports, and cause unnecessary inconveniences for both the underage individual and the driver.
For starters, the most common way for a driver to identify if an individual is underage is by appearance. This can be extremely unreliable, as many individuals may look younger or older than they actually are. Because of this, drivers may incorrectly assume a rider is underage and cancel the trip or report the account without proper confirmation.
This can lead to multiple false reports being placed on an account, which may result in warnings, suspensions, or forced age verification, even if the individual is following all the rules. In addition, drivers unexpectedly canceling a trip can leave the rider without any other source of transportation. This can lead to an even more unsafe situation. Not only is this dangerous, but it could also cause major inconveniences for both the driver and the rider, especially for those who are busy or need to be somewhere at a specific time.
How Ridesharing App Age Requirements Harm 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. 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.
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.
