Ride-hailing company Uber (UBER) is allowing Canadian teens to set up accounts on its app as it seeks to expand across the country.
The U.S.-based company announced that it will begin allowing Canadians between the ages of 13 and 17 to make passenger accounts on its the ride-hailing app staring this summer.
Teen accounts will be introduced in Western Canada and Quebec first, followed by Ontario and Nova Scotia.
The move reverses Uber’s current policy that bans anyone under the age of 18 from holding an account with the company.
Uber said it is seeing plenty of demand to let teens take Ubers on their own.
Teenage accounts were first created for Innisfil Transit, an Ontario town south of Barrie that Uber has a partnership agreement with, and then piloted in Calgary last year.
A 2019 poll in the U.S. found that one in eight parents reported letting their child between the ages of 14 and 17 use Uber on their own.
The new teen accounts in Canada will send parents notifications when teens request a ride. The accounts will also allow adults to track the trip and contact the driver or child through Uber’s app.
Drivers working for Uber will not need to pass a vulnerable sector check to transport underage teens, though Uber says it will only serve such rides to drivers who have a high customer rating.
Uber’s stock has risen 69% over the last 12 months and currently trades at $37.84 U.S. per share.
