Uber and Lyft expand their push into rides for senior citizens

Early this year, Lyft and Uber announced they would find ways for Americans without smartphones — particularly senior citizens — to use their apps.

Those partnerships are now expanding to get more elderly Americans access to the ride-hailing services.

Both companies recently announced new partnerships with healthcare providers to allow their clients to use Lyft and Uber to get to doctors' appointments, family outings and wherever else those under home care might want to go.

Lyft last week partnered with GreatCall and Home Care Assistance, two leading providers of care for senior citizens. Uber announced a partnership with 24Hr Home Care the week before.

So why do ride-hailing companies want to reach the oldest segment of America's population?

The 36 percent of Americans who don't own a smartphone are one of the largest potential markets left for ride-hailing companies that already seem to have cornered the market on younger demographics.

Among Americans ages 65 and older, 70 percent don't have access to a smartphone, Home Care Assistance says. Even for the 30 percent who do, many don't use mobile apps like Uber and Lyft.

The platforms Lyft and Uber have introduced allow customers to order a ride through a regular phone call. That's a bonus for anyone who doesn't have a smartphone, but it's particularly relevant for the country's oldest residents.

Partnerships with healthcare companies that already work with that same segment of the population provided a way to reach those customers, and assist healthcare providers with their own care goals.

"These types of ride-sharing platforms developing partnerships or specific solutions for the aging market is part of a growing trend to make transportation more accessible for the aging population," Home Care Assistance CEO Lily Sarafan told Mashable.

Through Lyft's partnership with Home Care Assistance, for example, the healthcare company gets data on where its clients are going when they order a car. That's useful for the care company to know how many of its clients need transportation for medical reasons and how many are going to a local senior center or a family member's house.

The typical client for Home Care Assistance is over 85 years old. Forty percent have some form of dementia.

So far, most of these partnerships are pilot programs to see how adding ride-hailing to senior citizen care works in certain markets.

"Non-emergency medical care was very costly, inefficient and difficult to track (for transparency and reporting)," a Lyft spokesman said of the new partnerships. "Using Lyft for non-emergency medical transportation solves for many of those pain points."

The agreements seem mutually beneficial for the senior citizens who have a new transportation option, and the ride-hailing companies that are reaching a new market.