The Age
Cara Waters
August 28, 2025 — 5.00am
Ride-share giant Uber wants to take over from parents ferrying their children to school and sporting events with the launch of Uber for Teens, but the move has raised child safety concerns.
Uber is launching Uber for Teens across Australia on Friday, enabling children aged 13 and over to catch Ubers driven by drivers with a Working With Children Check and allowing parents to track their children’s journeys.
![Sally Andreatta is constantly in the car driving her daughters Olivia, 17, and Lilly, 13, to netball engagements. She is happy to take the time rather than have them use Uber for Teens.]( "Sally Andreatta is constantly in the car driving her daughters Olivia, 17, and Lilly, 13, to netball engagements. She is happy to take the time rather than have them use Uber for Teens.")
Sally Andreatta is constantly in the car driving her daughters Olivia, 17, and Lilly, 13, to netball engagements. She is happy to take the time rather than have them use Uber for Teens. Credit: Chris Hopkins
Uber is implementing safety measures including a three-way intercom feature for teen accounts, live trip tracking, a four-digit PIN verification and a shared communication space between the parent, teen and driver, but some parents and child safety advocates warn this is not enough to safeguard children.
The service launched in Victoria, NSW, Victoria and Western Australia after being initially limited to the ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.
Children were previously only allowed to travel in Ubers when accompanied by an adult.
The service will cost an extra $2 per trip, and the additional fee will go towards the driver to help cover the cost of obtaining a Working With Children Check.
Emma Foley, managing director of Uber Australia and New Zealand, said Uber for Teens gave families a safe and reliable way to help lighten the load.
“We know that modern family life is a constant balancing act, from early morning school runs to after-school activities and everything in between,” she said. “For parents, nothing is more important than knowing their teen is in safe hands. Uber for Teens is designed with built-in safety features and real-time updates.”
In NSW, ACT, South Australia and Tasmania, where audio recording is permitted, every trip booked via Uber for Teens is automatically recorded.
A spokeswoman for Uber said there had been no incidents such as assaults using Uber for Teens in the year it has been operating in the ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.
However, child safety advocate Hetty Johnston said she did not believe Uber’s safeguards were enough to protect young people.
Johnston said while the requirement to have a Working With Children Check was better than nothing, the current system was “a bit like having an ashtray on a motorbike” and there were serious flaws with the check that had been highlighted by the Melbourne childcare crisis.
![Child protection expert and advocate Hetty Johnston.]( "Child protection expert and advocate Hetty Johnston.")
Child protection expert and advocate Hetty Johnston.
“I think you’re throwing caution to the wind there, and you’re just hoping that everything will be all right whenever you send your young people off into an Uber,” she said. “Particularly sending them off alone, I would not as a parent be doing that.”
Johnston said she was concerned about the rates of reported assaults and sexual assaults in taxis and the ride-share industry.
Last month this masthead reported that a Melbourne teacher suspended for alleged sexual misconduct was allowed to work as a ride-share driver.
Data from 2021 showed Uber drivers were involved in more than 500 serious incidents over 18 months in NSW, including sexual assaults and crashes that put people in hospital, but the ride-sharing giant failed to tell the regulator despite a legal requirement.
The state taxi and ride-share regulator, Safe Transport Victoria, does not report instances of sexual assault.
In NSW, the Point to Point Transport Commissioner created a complaint hotline which received more than 1000 calls in its first six months, resulting in 520 drivers being disciplined.
Despite her concerns, Johnston said she was pragmatic and it was likely Uber would find a ready market for its teen service.
“We can’t turn into a nanny state, either,” she said. “It’s going to be up to the parents and the young people themselves, to just follow some basic common-sense rules like don’t travel alone, try and travel in numbers. Know your rights.”
Doreen mother of two Sally Andreatta clocks up 12 to 15 hours in the car each week driving her two daughters, aged 13 and 17, to their netball training and games and often has a car full of their teammates.
Andreatta said she loved spending time driving her children around and would be unlikely to use the Uber for Teens service.
“I would not give it up for the world,” she said. “It’s great, because when you’re in the car with them, you get to have a conversation, and you get to have a chat to them.”
Andreatta said she had some safety concerns about Uber for Teens and would only want her daughters to use the service if it was with others.
“I probably would be OK if it was a group of them, I wouldn’t do it solo,” she said. “Even people that work in childcare centres with Working With Children Checks have been doing terrible things, so people can get past the Working With Children Check.”
![Mark and Rennel Richardson, pictured with their teenage sons, believe Uber for Teens will help parents juggling responsibilities.]( "Mark and Rennel Richardson, pictured with their teenage sons, believe Uber for Teens will help parents juggling responsibilities.")
Mark and Rennel Richardson, pictured with their teenage sons, believe Uber for Teens will help parents juggling responsibilities.
Rennel Richardson, who lives in the Sydney suburb of Clovelly, drives her two sons, aged 15 and 16, around so much they sometimes refer to her as “Ruber”.
She said Uber for Teens would make life easier for busy parents.
“It’s the constant juggle, isn’t it, between work and the laundry and cooking and the shopping and the kids and walking the dog and everything else,” she said.
Richardson already books Ubers to transport her sons at least once a week to get to basketball training or chiropractor appointments and said it was sometimes stressful not knowing if the driver had picked them up or not.
“The safety features [in Uber for Teens] are vastly improved from what we’re already doing,” she said.
“Knowing that the three of us are communicating, that we’re all looped in, the transparency of being able to see who the driver is, where they are, I think that will just take a lot of the stress out of it.”
Cara Waters
August 28, 2025 — 5.00am
Ride-share giant Uber wants to take over from parents ferrying their children to school and sporting events with the launch of Uber for Teens, but the move has raised child safety concerns.
Uber is launching Uber for Teens across Australia on Friday, enabling children aged 13 and over to catch Ubers driven by drivers with a Working With Children Check and allowing parents to track their children’s journeys.
Sally Andreatta is constantly in the car driving her daughters Olivia, 17, and Lilly, 13, to netball engagements. She is happy to take the time rather than have them use Uber for Teens. Credit: Chris Hopkins
Uber is implementing safety measures including a three-way intercom feature for teen accounts, live trip tracking, a four-digit PIN verification and a shared communication space between the parent, teen and driver, but some parents and child safety advocates warn this is not enough to safeguard children.
The service launched in Victoria, NSW, Victoria and Western Australia after being initially limited to the ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.
Children were previously only allowed to travel in Ubers when accompanied by an adult.
The service will cost an extra $2 per trip, and the additional fee will go towards the driver to help cover the cost of obtaining a Working With Children Check.
Emma Foley, managing director of Uber Australia and New Zealand, said Uber for Teens gave families a safe and reliable way to help lighten the load.
“We know that modern family life is a constant balancing act, from early morning school runs to after-school activities and everything in between,” she said. “For parents, nothing is more important than knowing their teen is in safe hands. Uber for Teens is designed with built-in safety features and real-time updates.”
In NSW, ACT, South Australia and Tasmania, where audio recording is permitted, every trip booked via Uber for Teens is automatically recorded.
A spokeswoman for Uber said there had been no incidents such as assaults using Uber for Teens in the year it has been operating in the ACT, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.
However, child safety advocate Hetty Johnston said she did not believe Uber’s safeguards were enough to protect young people.
Johnston said while the requirement to have a Working With Children Check was better than nothing, the current system was “a bit like having an ashtray on a motorbike” and there were serious flaws with the check that had been highlighted by the Melbourne childcare crisis.
Child protection expert and advocate Hetty Johnston.
“I think you’re throwing caution to the wind there, and you’re just hoping that everything will be all right whenever you send your young people off into an Uber,” she said. “Particularly sending them off alone, I would not as a parent be doing that.”
Johnston said she was concerned about the rates of reported assaults and sexual assaults in taxis and the ride-share industry.
Last month this masthead reported that a Melbourne teacher suspended for alleged sexual misconduct was allowed to work as a ride-share driver.
Data from 2021 showed Uber drivers were involved in more than 500 serious incidents over 18 months in NSW, including sexual assaults and crashes that put people in hospital, but the ride-sharing giant failed to tell the regulator despite a legal requirement.
The state taxi and ride-share regulator, Safe Transport Victoria, does not report instances of sexual assault.
In NSW, the Point to Point Transport Commissioner created a complaint hotline which received more than 1000 calls in its first six months, resulting in 520 drivers being disciplined.
Despite her concerns, Johnston said she was pragmatic and it was likely Uber would find a ready market for its teen service.
“We can’t turn into a nanny state, either,” she said. “It’s going to be up to the parents and the young people themselves, to just follow some basic common-sense rules like don’t travel alone, try and travel in numbers. Know your rights.”
Doreen mother of two Sally Andreatta clocks up 12 to 15 hours in the car each week driving her two daughters, aged 13 and 17, to their netball training and games and often has a car full of their teammates.
Andreatta said she loved spending time driving her children around and would be unlikely to use the Uber for Teens service.
“I would not give it up for the world,” she said. “It’s great, because when you’re in the car with them, you get to have a conversation, and you get to have a chat to them.”
Andreatta said she had some safety concerns about Uber for Teens and would only want her daughters to use the service if it was with others.
“I probably would be OK if it was a group of them, I wouldn’t do it solo,” she said. “Even people that work in childcare centres with Working With Children Checks have been doing terrible things, so people can get past the Working With Children Check.”
Mark and Rennel Richardson, pictured with their teenage sons, believe Uber for Teens will help parents juggling responsibilities.
Rennel Richardson, who lives in the Sydney suburb of Clovelly, drives her two sons, aged 15 and 16, around so much they sometimes refer to her as “Ruber”.
She said Uber for Teens would make life easier for busy parents.
“It’s the constant juggle, isn’t it, between work and the laundry and cooking and the shopping and the kids and walking the dog and everything else,” she said.
Richardson already books Ubers to transport her sons at least once a week to get to basketball training or chiropractor appointments and said it was sometimes stressful not knowing if the driver had picked them up or not.
“The safety features [in Uber for Teens] are vastly improved from what we’re already doing,” she said.
“Knowing that the three of us are communicating, that we’re all looped in, the transparency of being able to see who the driver is, where they are, I think that will just take a lot of the stress out of it.”
