They will not only deliver, but also help: how Uber, Uklon and Bolt work during the war

The war in Ukraine is forcing businesses to rebuild to survive in uncertain times. Some are forced to close, but some firms offer new opportunities for their clients.

“Today” will tell you how during the war the most popular taxi services organized their work and whether it is possible to use their services today.

Free border travel and humanitarian aid

From the first day of the war, the Uber service announced that it was temporarily halting its activities due to hostilities in Ukraine. However, already on March 2, the company announced resumption of work and focus on helping Ukrainiansincluding those who work for the company.

Now Uber in Ukraine works in several directions.

• Humanitarian aid. Drivers and customers through a special button in the application can make a donation to the International Rescue Committee. Uber has donated $500,000 for the humanitarian efforts of the UN World Food Program in Ukraine.
• Free travel at the border. To support Ukrainian refugees, Uber transports people from the Ukrainian border to Polish cities for free. Also, free transport is provided for employees of centers that receive migrants and for transporting goods to the warehouses of non-governmental organizations in Poland.
• Distribution of food and essential goods. In Romania, the company collected 60 tons of essential goods. She will give them to the Ukrainians, for this, agreements with the Red Cross Society are currently ongoing.

Another direction of help from Uber – protecting and supporting their driver-workers and their families.

All drivers in Ukraine are looking for work for a company in neighboring countries and help them go there.

The company notes that so far, in addition to border transportation taxi in Ukraine does not work. Thus, Uber wants to protect its drivers from danger. However, over time, the service will resume work, because now the company is looking for ways to safely restore their services.

Cooperation with volunteers from Uklon

Two days after the Russian invasion, Uklon announced that they were ready to cooperate with volunteers and workers of the city’s critical infrastructure. The company reported that will not accept commission for order fulfillment.

Already on March 1, Uklon launched the Volunteer project. Company transports free of charge for the needs of the military, terrorist defense and hospitals, as well as to maintain the life support of the city. The service operates in Kyiv and partially in Cherkassy and Chernivtsi. It is planned to add Kherson, Odessa, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Nikolaev and Mariupol to them.

In addition, Uklon vehicles transport refugees from Ukraine to Chisinau free of charge in Moldova.

Any client can call a taxi for their own needs. To find a driver as soon as possible, Uklon recommends:

• choose a cash payment method;
• increase the cost of the trip (move the slider in the application to the maximum).

The company notes that the waiting time may be longer than usual.

A trip to Bolt for 1 UAH

In the early days of the all-out war, Bolt donated €5 million to non-governmental organizations to help Ukrainians. On March 1, the application added the Support category, designed to move around the city in case of emergency. Anyone who needs to travel urgently can contact a volunteer driver and drive for 1 hryvnia.

Also, for evacuation to the West of Ukraine or abroad, Bolt offers Ukrainians use the car park for free. You can check in which cities there is transport and where you can leave it at the link.

Bolt also removed the commission for drivers. In neighboring countries, the service encourages its drivers to take trips to the Ukrainian border to take Ukrainians to safe places. The company also stressed that they stopped providing their services in Belarus. And they seized all goods of Russian production and Russian brands in the Bolt Market delivery service throughout Europe.

How the most popular delivery services in Ukraine work during the war

As of March 9, the Glovo service provides services in 19 cities of Ukraine. Glovo is trying to supply food to places that are blocked by the occupiers or where it is dangerous to be due to fighting. To do this, the company attracts volunteer couriers.

In turn, Bolt Food reduced the commission for all services in Ukraine to zero. In addition, Bolt Food said they would donate more than €5 million to Ukraine. The company is also gathering volunteers who will help restaurants and couriers deliver the necessary things for free to people in need of help.

At the same time, the Ukrainian company Rocket announced that it was temporarily stopping work.

Segodnya also talked about how Nova Poshta is establishing cooperation during the war, and also reported that international payment systems have abolished fees for transfers to Ukraine.