Under the leadership of Mayor Steven L. Reed, the City of Montgomery has partnered with Uber Technologies and HandsOn River Region to launch the Montgomery Rides Program.
The initiative — announced on Friday afternoon — increases accessibility to the COVID-19 vaccines by providing free, safe and reliable transportation to local vaccination clinics and appointments.
Uber will offer 1,500 free rides to Montgomery residents through September 30. The service is available to any resident in Montgomery and does not require the Uber app. Residents can simply call 211 Monday-Friday from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. to schedule a free roundtrip ride.
“Challenges create opportunity, and Montgomery – like cities around the world – continues climbing out of our generation’s greatest challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic,” Reed said in a statement. “However, this crisis led us to use innovative ideas in our response and recovery efforts – many of which can be adopted after the pandemic ends to address longstanding issues in our community. The Montgomery Rides Program reduces the barriers to citywide vaccination and could be replicated in other public health programs in Montgomery.”
Those who utilize the service will receive a ride to and from vaccination sites in a private, non-shared vehicle.
“We are proud to support the City of Montgomery’s and HandsOn River Region’s efforts to significantly boost access to COVID-19 vaccines by providing transportation to and from vaccine appointments,” stated Chris Miller, senior manager of Public Affairs at Uber. “Throughout this pandemic we’ve maintained operations to provide essential services to the people of Montgomery and have taken multiple steps to help ensure that safety is at the heart of everything we’ve done. This is just the latest effort in our ongoing commitment to provide communities we serve with support they need during this unprecedented time.”
In addition to launching the Montgomery Rides Program, the City of Montgomery has announced a new resource called BamaVax, which aggregates available vaccine appointments across the Yellowhammer State.
The web resource was created by Partners In Health, which supports Montgomery leaders in COVID-19 response efforts. BamaVax will simplify the vaccine search and scheduling process for eligible residents. The site does not provide medical or technical advice.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
