Coronavirus: Uber offers free rides to healthcare workers, govt officials and non-COVID patients

Key Highlights:

• Uber to offer free rides to the Delhi government for transporting non-COVID patients
• Part of Uber's global commitment to offer 1 crore free rides to move what matters
• UberMedic is already transporting frontline medical workers in 28 hospitals across 14 cities

Ride-hailing service Uber has partnered with the Delhi government to offer free rides for emergency services. It will provide transport to frontline healthcare workers and government officials on COVID-19 related duties and on other essential services.  It will deploy 200 UberMedic cars free of charge to transport non-COVID patients in coordination with the Centralised Ambulance Trauma Services (CATS) Ambulance Helpline.

All the UberMedic cars being provided to the Delhi government are being fitted with a roof-to-floor plastic sheeting enclosing the driver, thereby limiting the contact with the rider. Additionally, to maintain safety and hygiene standards, all drivers are being trained in safety procedures and being provided with personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, sanitisers and disinfectants to sanitise the cars between rides.

Prabhjeet Singh, Director, Operations and Head of Cities, Uber India & South Asia, says, "The Delhi Government has been working tirelessly to contain the spread of COVID-19. We feel privileged to be supporting the Delhi government in these challenging times and stand ready to provide essential services to help move what matters by leveraging our global experience, technology and network of drivers."

Uber's partnership with the Delhi government is part of its global commitment to provide 1 crore rides and food deliveries free of charge, which its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently announced. The rides offered for free amount to Rs 75 lakh.

Uber has been actively working towards facilitating services due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It had recently launched UberMedic service that facilitates the provision for transporting frontline medical workers in 28 hospitals across 14 Indian cities.  According to the company, public hospitals such as Sri Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital are getting the service free of cost.

For consumers, Uber had added a new feature Uber Essentials to facilitate essential travel for residents of Mumbai. For this, Uber had partnered with the city's traffic police and has also identified a select fleet of vehicles for pick-up and drop from and/or to city hospitals. Uber had partnered with Medlife, one of India's largest e-health platforms, to provide residents across Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Pune, access to prescription and other over-the-counter medicines, amid ongoing national lockdown.

It had also partnered with BigBasket as its first client to collectively address the growing needs of consumers to access everyday essentials amid the current nationwide lockdown.

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