With a view to pledge its support for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), State Governments and local NGOs, Uber has announced free rides worth Rs 10 crores for assisting the second phase of the world’s largest vaccination drive.

The free rides can be utilised to travel to and from the nearest authorised vaccination centre by citizens above 60 and 45 years of age group with co-morbidities, the target group identified for the second phase of India’s vaccination drive.

The initiative hopes to aid the vulnerable with easy, redeemable rides to vaccination centres. Uber has also planned to leverage its NGO partners for transporting the underprivileged elderly to inoculation hubs.

Starting March 8, Uber plans to roll out these free rides in a staggered manner across 35 cities in India. These include Jaipur, Delhi, NCR, Lucknow, Kanpur, Visakhapatnam, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Mohali, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Agartala among others.

Here's how you can claim your free ride:

• Tap the menu in the top left of the Uber app and select ‘Wallet’

• Select ‘Add Promo Code’ at the bottom

• Vaccination Promo Codes will be applicable in the Uber app for all users, in 34 cities, and across all products

• Add the promo code for a trip to the nearest Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Authorised vaccination centre in a government or private hospital and the return trip.

• Navigate to the rides home screen and enter the pick-up/drop-off location for yourself or the person you are booking for.

• Confirm your trip

• The value of each free ride will be a maximum Rs 150 and a rider is entitled to a maximum of two free rides, to and from the vaccination centre

• The final fare displayed before confirming the trip will be inclusive of the discount