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"Uber\u00A0has announced uberFAMILY, a subset of uberX that caters to families with kids. Launching first in New York City, the service offers car seat-equipped vehicles for a $10 surcharge.\r\nUberFAMILY, news of which leaked out last week via VentureBeat,\u00A0uses\u00A0top-rated drivers from uberX\u00A0that have been\u00A0trained and certified\u00A0in car seat installation. In New York, uberX\u00A0operates as a commercial service rather than the ridesharing option used in some cities. Uber worked with safety design firm and manufacturer IMMI to create a custom seat for the program. The carseat accommodates children aged one year and up.\r\nTo try out the service, you have to enter \u201CFAMILY\u201D as a code in the app to unlock the uberFAMILY option. For Mother\u2019s Day weekend, Care.com\u00A0is sponsoring\u00A0uberFAMILY to waive the $10 fee. The caregiver service also paid for the initial batch of car seats, but future drivers will have to pay for their own seats.\r\nUber NYC GM Josh Mohrer described the program as \u201Cemblematic to our commitment to safety.\u201D Mohrer added that the company had heard from its riders that kids around New york were being transported without car services in taxis and other car services.\r\nUberFAMILY drivers will store the car seats in their trunks and install them for passengers when they arrive at a pickup spot.\r\nSince it\u2019s a pilot program, uberFAMILY availability will\u00A0be inconsistent at first. If it succeeds, Uber plans to expand it to other cities.\r\nCoupled with the recent $1 \u201CSafe Rides\u201D fee added to uberX ridesharing, Uber has been placing a strong emphasis on safety.\r\n\u201CUber has always been and will always be the safest ride on the road. That\u2019s been a commitment from the beginning,\u201D Mohrer said.\r\nWith that in mind, adding a child seat service made perfect sense, since it\u2019s the only safe way to transport kids by car.\r\nWhen I asked whether the $10 fee will feel like a \u201Cfamily tax,\u201D Mohrer reminded me that its Uber doesn\u2019t employ its drivers so it can\u2019t force them to do anything.\r\n\u201CWe wanted to find a price point that we felt was reasonable,\u201D he said. \u201CWe needed to make this interesting for drivers such that they would want to be participate.\u201D\r\nDrivers have to invest in the program by buying the car seat and learning how to install it. Pickup times for uberFAMILY will also tend to be longer. Mohrer added that Uber thinks it\u2019s \u201Ca pretty good deal\u201D compared to other alternatives, but it\u2019s open to revisiting the price in the future.\r\nUber has been using New York as a test site for new services. Last month, the company announced uberRUSH, a bicycle courier service in Manhattan."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/05/08/uber-launches-uberfamily-pilot-service-nyc-uses-cars-child-seats/>