7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Opportunity: Elementary/Middle/High School Students Transportation Service

Who: Working Parents; Elementary/Middle/High School Students

What: Transporting Elementary/Middle/High School Students to extracurricular activities; transporting Elementary/Middle/High School Students to social events and gatherings; Transporting Elementary/Middle/High School Students to appointments

Why: Working parents often have to depend on others to get their children where they need to be. Working parents do not want to take advantage of family members; often they are paying people to take their children to different activities, events, appointments. Working parents cannot always get the time off of work to meet the demands of their child(ren)’s schedules,

As a working mom myself, I have seen this need become more and more relevant. Single parents and working parents all need assistance with getting their children around. It becomes increasingly difficult if parents have more than one child. Having to have children in three different places at the same time can be rather difficult to accomplish. A service like this would minimize the stress parents experience on a daily basis.

Parents will need to trust the drivers; difficult children can test the driver’s patience; affordability of the service

Parents will refuse assistance because they believe they can do it all, even if it kills them or other parents will abuse any and all help they can receive.

Interview Responses:

If available, would you use a Mommy-Type Uber service to assist with getting your child(ren) to their extra curricular activities? Why or Why not?

After discussing this topic with an array of working parents, I learned there are mixed feelings to a service like this. Although for the most part, parents would actually consider using this service, others stressed concern regarding the safety and well-being of their child when being transported.

What type of benefits are you looking for in a service such as this one?

Parents are looking to minimize the stress they feel when having to take their children to different activities and events. There are times parents feel like there is not enough time in a day to accomplish this task. As of now, a parent I interviewed, as well as several of their friends, already pay people to take their children to different activities and events. The idea of having this type of service centralized where they can plan an entire week or month of transportation at a time would be a dream come true. As of now, they are able to plan transportation about a day or two in advance, but it can become tedious when people are not available to assist them.

What would be a requirement for you in order to use this service?

Obviously, background and driving record checks were the highest requirement for them. After discussing the idea of partnering with a company like Care.com, parents became more receptive to this idea. Most parents I interviewed have used Care.com to find a babysitter for their child. It’s a reliable, trustworthy service that provides qualified care givers for parents to select from.

What safety measures would you like to see in a service such as this one?

During my discussion with the parents, an idea of having a “Nanny Camera” in the car would help them feel more comfortable when using a service such as this one. One of the parents had a child in the Home Away from Home Day Care where at any time throughout the day, they could login and watch their child at day care. This provided a feeling of comfort knowing that at any time, a parent could check in on their child and make sure their child was safe. Having an option such as this one would sway some of the parents that did not originally like this idea to begin to consider the idea.

Do you believe this type of service, if centralized, would beneficial to you?

A service such as this one, centralized, would be an enormous relief to parents who are already paying for their child’s transportation to their activities, events and appointments. The ability to schedule in advance and select the drivers who will provide the service would be a huge benefit to those who would use the service.

What would you consider to be affordable rates for this type of service?

The parents I spoke with said they are paying a person $20.00 each way to and from their destination. Unfortunately, this means if the destination is one mile or 10 miles away, they are paying the same price. Having a set rate would be beneficial to them. As we discussed a set rate, having a based fare (flat fee), cost per minute, cost per mile and a service fee. The fare would be calculated as follows: $1.00 base fare, $0.16/min, $0.90/mile, service fee $1.00. For a 10 minute ride that was 5 miles away, the ride will now cost: $1.00+($0.16*10=$1.60)+(5*$0.90=$4.50)+$1.00=$8.10. This is a savings of $11.90 for parents that are already paying $20.00 each way to a destination.

What age group do you think this service should be geared towards?

Although most parents were hesitant to use this service for their elementary students, they felt middle school and high school students should be the core customer base for this service.

What is the maximum travel distance you would use this service for?

For the most part, if the service was used, the travel would remain within Palm Beach County. Anything further seemed to make participants uneasy.

Would you also consider using this service to take your child(ren) to the movies? mall? friend's house?

For the most part, it would be considered to also use the service for these types of trips as well, especially during work hours, and school breaks.