How to Hire a Taxi With a Baby Seat

If you’re travelling with children, you know how important it is to keep them safe. Whether you’re on holiday or needing to get from A to B, hiring a taxi with a baby seat can make your journey much safer.

The rules around child seats vary across Australia, but in Victoria the laws covering taxis, rideshare services and chauffeur driven cars (like VHA Town Cars) are the same as those for private hire vehicles. In the case of chauffeur driven vehicles, children up to the age of seven must travel in an appropriate car seat. This includes limousines and private cars hired from companies like Uber, Ola and DiDi.

Unlike taxis, private hire vehicles don’t have to provide child seats, but they can offer them for an extra fee. If you don’t have one, the company may refuse to transport you and your child.

In a first for the country, Uber launched a new option on Monday that allows parents to book taxis with baby car seats for an extra charge. The service is called Uber Child Seats and is available in Melbourne and Sydney. It’s only available in vehicles with two or more rows of seats, so families will need to split up if they’re going to different locations.

The child seats being offered are rear-facing infant capsules, forward-facing child seats and booster seats for older kids. Uber’s pilot is being run in partnership with Baby Bunting, an Australian baby goods retailer and car seat specialist. Driver-partners taking part have been trained by Baby Bunting to correctly install child car seats in their vehicles. baby seat taxi melbourne