The Unpaid App: G-Ma UBER

The Unpaid App: ‘G-Ma UBER’

by Madi A. 02/2026

Brilliant!!! Who knew that decades later carpooling would be a multi-billion dollar business? It existed for decades as a community effort and all it needed was an app to run it all. Just remembering times when things went really wrong without GPS or instant messaging.

Then along came Uber, the billion-dollar version of what parents had been doing for decades, only now there was an app and a credit card attached.

It's been a world where there's always been ride-sharing. It just wasn't linked to an app. Going back to the 1980s, the parents' world has always included driving around. Children need to be driven to doctors, or specialists, to and from school, extracurricular activities, sporting events and so on. Everyone knows what parenting is all about. Just think about being paid to ride-share! We would all be millionaires. 

With three children, rides were required for games and practices for; hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer, and wheelchair basketball. They also had classes; dance, ballet, guitar, and piano. 

Aunt Rizzo always teased: “It’s a drop-off, pickup, pickup drop-off, go pickup, and now drop-off time.” Everyone laughed! Ride-sharing back then, was a chain of landline phone calls and hoping the parents remembered it was their turn for pickup. 

Now the children have all grown up to be parents themselves, ride-sharing has taken a new path. The grandchildren need rides to access their own activities. G-Ma Uber was a term that was invented by the mouths of babes. With multigeneration using ride-sharing, it was just a matter of time before someone invented a billion dollar system.  

The grandchildren had acquired their own rides putting G-Ma Uber in semi-retirement mode. However, one day, Renesme drove home from work, and when she pulled into the driveway, her car, a cute blue Volkswagen beetle, caught fire and was a total loss due to an engine fire. Fortunately, no one was harmed, but the impact of the fire still lingers among them.  More than a year later, she still feels compelled to check the stove knobs nightly, and unplug almost everything in the house. 

G-Ma Uber was back at work. Carpooling, or now know as Ride-Sharing, to work, to College and everything in between. Within months, Cassidy was heading home from work in his customized Honda Civic. The driver of a black Tundra truck performed an illegal left-hand turn and crashed into the front end. It was a total write-off. Although there were minor cuts and bruises that healed quickly, the impact of the hit lasted a while. Over a year later, he still avoids driving on certain streets, and checks his mirrors not just once or twice but four to five times.  

G-Ma Uber is running double time again until the car is replaced. Chance was purchased and driven home, she's a beauty, she's a black 2007 BMW 5 series. It was pure chance that Cassidy had the funds from the previous accident to replace it with his dream car. 

A few months later, Chance turned into Rebelias b!tch at a stop sign.  A black Avalanche truck rear-ended the car but when Cassidy opened the door to check the damage, the other driver aimed a gun over the side mirror. Six bullets were fired, three hit the car. While no one was physically hurt, it took months of therapy for Cassidy to manage the post-traumatic stress (PTSD) the attack left behind. Even the physical repairs could not fix the soul of the car, Chance remained broken and developed a rebellious streak of endless mechanical problems. 

Inside Cassidy, something had shifted. The sound of a truck engine near him made his heart race before his mind could reason. He flinched when tires screeched on television. Every loud noise sounded too much like something else. Sleep changed. Some nights Cassidy replayed the crash frame by frame, the illegal left turn, the impact. Other nights, the gunshots echoed louder than the memory of metal. The brain refuses to file this violence neatly away.

Needless to say, G-Ma Uber had a little break, but was back on double-time duty, not just driving, but as reassurance.

Apps may connect strangers with a tap, but G-Ma Uber never needed payment; she only required a call and a full tank of gas. 

The legacy of the one who drives not for a fare, but for the safety of her children and grandchildren, remains the most valuable network of all. There's no app for that! 

G-Ma UBER in Kia Soul