Uber and Lyft: Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles

Uber and Lyft are two well-known transportation companies that have changed the way people transport themselves to their destination. Both companies created job opportunities for everyday people to drive passengers to their destination.  This allows the passenger to not worry about hailing a cab from the sidewalk or deal with traffic stress. In order to use the transportation services, passengers would need to download the Uber or/and Lyft's app on their mobile device.

With the ongoing popularity of using Uber or Lyft to go to places, both companies have improve on their policy to suit more towards on consumers’ needs. One of the main progress was accommodating people with wheelchairs or has disabilities.

 

UBER

Uber created a separate app, called uberAccess, for wheelchair users to use.

There are two options to choose from when using uberAccess:

1. uberASSIST – designed to provide assistance to people with disabilities and seniors into vehicles. Drivers are trained to accommodate mobility products, such as wheelchairs, walkers, and scooters.

2. uberWAVER – allows passagners with disabilities to request wheelchair accessible vehicles. Vehicles are equipped with ramps or lifts.

As for now, uberAccess is available for the following cities:

• Chicago, IL
• Houston,TX
• Los Angeles,CA
• New York (Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, NYC, and Manhattan)
• Portland, OR
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA

For more information about Uber’s accessibility, please click here.

 

 

LYFT

Lyft created a service called the Accessible Vehicle Dispatch for wheelchair users. It is a service where Lyft works with various accessible taxi services to accommodate wheelchair users. Wheelchair users would need to enable  the access mode on the app. When the access mode is enabled, vehicles that are capable of accommodating wheelchairs will be used to take the passengers to their destination. If cities do not have accessible vehicles available, passengers will receive a text message regarding with information about  local services when the ride is requested. Some local paratransit and accessible vehicle may need to be booked at least 24 hours in advance.

To enable the  "Access" Mode on the Lyft app:

1. Go to the menu and tap on Settings
2. Under settings, tap on Services
3. On the Services page, tap 'Access' to enable the access mode

For more information about Lyft’s accessibility, please click here.

via uber.com and lyft.com