NE BUSINESS BUREAU
Gurugram, Mar 19
Uber on Thursday announced a partnership with the Robin Hood Army (RHA), a zero-funds and volunteer based organisation, for providing free rides worth Rs 50 lakh to its #SeniorPatrol programme for supporting the vaccination of senior citizens, says a release.
Uber’s offer is a part of its recently announced pledge to support the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), State Governments and local NGOs with free rides worth Rs 10 crore during the second phase of the world’s largest vaccination drive.
As RHA’s mobility partner, Uber will provide free rides to help vulnerable elderly to and from vaccine centres to receive their doses across 53 Indian cities, where both Uber and RHA operate. Under the partnership, RHA volunteers will help thousands of vulnerable senior citizens, including those living in old age homes and poorer neighbourhoods, register with the CoWin app and then transport them to get inoculated.
Earlier in August, 2020, Uber partnered with RHA to help deliver free meals for the hungry, and those worst impacted by the Covid pandemic.
In addition to supporting the world’s largest vaccination drive, these free rides to vulnerable citizens will further boost earning opportunities for Drivers on Uber’s platform during these challenging times.
Neel Ghose, Founder, Robin Hood Army, said, “We built and ran the SeniorPatrol programme during the extended lockdown in India to serve senior citizens across 100+ cities in the country with urgent needs such as groceries and medicines. We are happy that we have been given another opportunity to support these senior citizens for the vaccination drive and our extended partnership with Uber will further help us remove barriers to access vaccination and play a critical role in serving the communities where we operate”.
Speaking about Uber’s support for India’s elderly, Prabhjeet Singh, President, Uber India and South Asia, said, “We’re thrilled to be joining forces with our valued partner, the Robin Hood Army, for supporting the vaccination of vulnerable communities in these challenging times. This will help them recover from the pandemic, rebuild their lives and support the nation’s economic recovery. In the weeks and months ahead, Uber will continue to remain committed to supporting vaccination drives for vulnerable communities.”
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Uber has announced multiple initiatives to support local authorities, civil society organisations and State Governments to help move what matters. In 2020, Uber partnered with Indian NGOs such as HelpAge India,CHILDLINE 1098 and the National Association for the Blind to provide mobility options for some of India’s most vulnerable citizens. It also facilitated over 280,000 free rides to the National Health Authority (NHA) as well as various State Governments for transporting thousands of frontline healthcare workersand volunteers. These free rides were a part of the larger global commitment made by Uber to donate 10 million free rides and food deliveries to healthcare workers, seniors, and people in need.
