Uber launches new service for disabled passengers needing extra help

Uber has launched an option on its taxi-hailing app for people with disabilities in London who need extra assistance.

A hundred of Uber’s most experienced drivers have signed up to the new service called uberASSIST. All the drivers have completed a disability equality course by charities Transport for All and Inclusion London and drive vehicles that can fit most folding wheelchairs, scooters and walking frames.

Passengers can enter the code - ASSISTUK on Uber's app, giving them the option to request a trained driver.

Uber has pledged that the service will cost the equivalent to a journey using the lowest priced uberX.

Uber's UK general manager, Jo Bertram, said: "We've been working to develop uberASSIST for a number of months and have heard from our charitable partners, Transport for All and Inclusion London, about the difficulties disabled people and people with access needs often face in accessing transport in London.

"Technology and innovation should be starting to change this. That's why I'm proud that we can now offer disabled riders extra assistance - at exactly the same low price as our existing uberX service.

“And in the new year we hope to expand accessibility further by introducing additional wheelchair accessible vehicles to the Uber platform - on top of the hundreds of black cabs already using the Uber app."

London black cabs have to be wheeclchair accessible, but currently regulation does not require Uber cars to be wheelchair accessible. Uber is viewed by many as the cheap, mobile friendly way to get around but it has been criticised for its lack of accessibility for people with disabilities as the majority of Uber's fleet comprises of the Toyota Prius which cannot accommodate wheelchairs.

There are estimated to be 70,000 people with disabilities living in London.

Uber now operates in over six British cities, including London, where it launched in 2012.