Your Folding Wheelchair-Accessible Uber Has Arrived

By ANNA WALTERS
Ride-hailing company Uber announced today it's making its service a little more accessible for Portlanders who use folding wheelchairs, walkers, or scooters that can fit inside a car.

The tech giant has launched uberASSIST, a service available through the app where users may request drivers trained to help riders who have special needs or requests due to disabilities or aging.
Uber returned to Portland

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported in May that it took one Uber rider who uses a wheelchair “more than 15 attempts and nine hours checking the app before he was able to successfully request a ride to the grocery store.”

Ride-hailing companies rely on drivers using their personal vehicles, so they don’t have a fleet of ADA-equipped cars and vans like those of traditional cab companies.

Instead, Uber and Lyft partnered with third-parties like First Transit and Ride Connection to provide accessible rides.

Uber officials say uberASSIST solves some of the problem.

It could be “something as simple as moving the passenger side up so there’s more room to accommodate a walker,” says Uber spokeswoman Kate Downen.

Downen says more than 350 Uber drivers in Portland are trained and available to give rides on uberASSIST. On June 24, the company boasted 1,500 drivers who had given 100,000 rides since Uber re-launched in April.

What about people who use traditional wheelchairs or motorized scooters? They can still request an Uber, but they may be stuck waiting at the curb for a contracted ride.

"It’s one more piece of the puzzle in helping solve this accessibility issue in Portland,” Downen says.

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