Picture this: your son needs to be at karate at the exact same time your daughter needs to be picked up from piano lessons. All the while, the office is calling to see how soon you can be back for a meeting across town.
Does this sound familiar? With the school year in full swing, and holiday madness around the corner, parents may find themselves hard-pressed to get kids to their myriad activities and appointments, all while making it on time themselves, to teacher conferences, the office, and the gym. As a parent, it can be hard to manage so many different schedules, but luckily there is a new app available in Orange County area making it a little bit easier: Kango.
Kango is an award-winning, app-based service that enables you to schedule safe rides and childcare for kids, from preschool to high school. Think of them like “Nannies on Wheels” to help you do it all… All drivers and sitters are highly vetted and carefully pre-screened, including background checks, DMV checks, vehicle inspections, and Trustline certification, which includes additional background checks using FBI and DOJ databases and fingerprinting. Since rides are planned in advance, families can rest assured knowing that their child has a trusted caregiver to transport them safely and on time.
The Kango app is also easy to use. After creating an account, families simply submit their request and can even ask for a free driver meet-and-greet before the first ride – your child will get to know exactly who is picking them up! You can book childcare for before or after a ride, or book it as a standalone babysitting job (date night, anyone?). The best part is that Kango provides car seats and booster seats as well, giving parents one less thing to worry about.
It’s important to note that while this service sounds similar to Uber and Lyft, it is fundamentally different. Children riding alone in an Uber or Lyft is not only an unsafe practice, but it is also actually not authorized. Uber, Lyft and other adult ridesharing services are not licensed nor insured to drive unaccompanied minors. Those services do not extensively background check nor certify drivers to work with children. Kango, on the other hand, is the only ridesharing service insured to drive children of any age, and all driver candidates must have prior childcare experience. Because Kango was co-founded by a fellow parent, Los Angeles-born mom of two Sara Schaer, the service emphasizes the importance of trust and safety. Most drivers are other moms themselves!
Kango currently services the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County, San Fernando Valley, Orange County, San Diego, and the San Gabriel Valley areas.
Whichever direction your family is headed, Kango cares about getting you there.
For more information, please download the Kango app on the App Store or Google Play, or visit Kango online. If you’re looking for part-time, flexible work, you can learn more about becoming a Kango driver here.
