Shuddle launches new carpooling service for kids
Following the success of carpooling extensions like LyftLine and UberPool, Shuddle, California's "Uber for kids" is introducing its own Shuddle Carpool feature. Shuddle Carpool serves families who know each other, where all riders either start or end at the same destination, or both. For a minimum cost of $8 per family per ride (versus $15 for a single-family Shuddle ride), a Shuddle user can schedule a carpool and invite other families from their contact list to join the ride.
Marco della Cava

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO—Attention carpooling parents: A tech start-up wants to take the wheel and free you from your daily schlep.

Shuddle, an Uber-for-kids ride-hailing company, launches a new carpool service Monday that its founder expects will soon generate the bulk of the company's revenues.

Shuddle Carpool leverages app-based geolocating technology to allow parents to create carpool routes with other families. Rides will cost a minimum of $8, but will represent a savings of between 30% to 50% off what a ride would cost with only one child in the car. Rides can consist of up to four children plus the driver, with the riders sharing the same pick-up location, drop-off location, or both.

"This new service is absolutely our number one focus," says Shuddle CEO Nick Allen, who has raised $12 million in funding for the start-up since it launched last fall. "It has the potential to bring our (Shuddle) experience to a broader group at a lower price point."

Shuddle rides aren't quite on-demand. Instead, parents must summon drivers no later than one hour before a ride is needed. But unlike Uber, whose drivers run the demographic gamut, Shuddle vets its drivers for child care experience and complies with California Public Utilities Commission screening rules for services catering to minors, which include using fingerprint-based TrustLine background checks.

Shuddle charges a $9 monthly fee for its service, which at present is limited to the Bay Area and its suburbs. While its single-passenger fares are typically 10% to 15% more expensive than Uber rides, the new reduced-fare carpool service "is a win-win for drivers and passengers alike," says Allen. Drivers get a slightly higher pay per ride while costs go down for riders.

Shuddle provided the example of a hypothetical carpool ride that, taken alone, would cost a parent $16. But after stopping for three other children along the route, and dropping everyone at the same final location, each rider pays $8 for a trip that then nets the driver and Shuddle a total of $32.

"It's more fun for the passengers, parents benefit from a feeling of community and safety and the driver's car is better utilized and he or she is better compensated," said Allen, a co-founder of Los Angeles-based ride service Sidecar. "This replaces what many parents already do, and we see it soon being the biggest part of our business."