Cape Town – Uber has announced that it will be providing unlimited free trips between the Ukrainian border and Polish cities to support refugees and their families, as well as free transportation for staff at Migrant Welcome Centres and for the delivery of goods to NGO warehouses in Poland.
The horrific war in Ukraine is rapidly becoming a tragic humanitarian crisis impacting millions of innocent people.
Our teams are working 24/7 to keep impacted employees, riders, and drivers safe and are partnering with NGOs to support relief efforts on the ground, said Uber.
The company said that as the situation continues to deteriorate, they are joining the international community’s response to take further actions to support Ukraine, ensuring that their efforts have a direct and meaningful impact for those most in need of help.
The e-hailing company said that it will also later this week, launch an in-app donation button to allow Uber riders in the US to make donations to the International Rescue Committee.
We plan to make in-app donation features available to Uber users in more countries in the coming days. Uber will match donations made through this feature up to $1 million (more than R15.2m).
The company further said that it will be making an additional $500 000 (more than R7.6m) donation to the International Federation of Red Cross and World Food Programme USA in support of the UN World Food Programme’s humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and neighboUring countries.
We have collected 60 tons of essential supplies in Romania, and we’re now working with the International Red Cross to transport them to communities in Ukraine.
The company said that shortly after attacks began in Ukraine, they decided to pause operations throughout Ukraine to protect the safety of drivers and riders.
We have provided advance payments to all drivers in Ukraine and we are exploring how Ukrainian refugees can have access to work on the Uber platform in neighbouring countries where we operate, the company said.
The company said that it is helping Uber Ukraine staff and their families relocate to other countries or to areas of the East European country not currently in danger of the conflict.
IOL