Many Australian parents spend eight hours a week driving their kids around
This extra "workday" is stretching parents thin.
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of Aussie parents spend the equivalent of a workday per week shuttling their children from place to place, according to new research from Allianz Australia.
The bulk of this comes on the weekend, spelling an end to any free time parents might have once had. Nearly half (44%) of all parents spend up to three hours acting as a "kid taxi" on Saturday and more than a third (36%) report the same on Sunday.
“It’s amazing how quickly the ‘kid taxi’ hours can add up and become a big challenge for mums and dads as they try to balance family life with work and other priorities – and, of course, traffic”, Allianz Australia Chief market manager Nick Adams said in a statement.
With many families requiring both parents to work, this extra workload means parents are stretched for time. One way parents can claw back some of that valuable time is through carpooling, but only 35% of parents currently take part in this time-saving activity, according to the study.
In true Aussie fashion, a couple of notable Aussie-based startups have attempted to solve this problem. Enter ride-sharing services that cater to only women and children.
Stretch is a Sydney-based ride-sharing service with drivers who are all qualified to care for kids and act as a mix between a driver and a babysitter. They will take the children from point A to point B and back again, and will even wait with the children at their activities and events.
Shebah is a ride-sharing service that hires only female drivers and that accepts only women and children passengers. Shebah currently operates in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Canberra, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat.
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