Lyft Inc. has announced a partnership with National MedTrans Network Inc. that will provide rides to non-emergency medical appointments for people with no smartphone, particularly senior citizens.

The Lyft at Work team has introduced Concierge, a third-party web application that will allow partners to order a Lyft ride for another person who does not have a smartphone. Lyft has launched the test program in New York City, where more than half of households are car-free and rely on public transportation or ride sharing services like Lyft.

National MedTrans Network has been providing non-emergency medical transportation for its customers since 2005. As part of the partnership, its operators can now order a Lyft on behalf of a customer using the Concierge app.

Once the operator has input the details of the customer together with pick-up and drop-off locations, a Lyft driver will be ready and waiting at the specific pick-up time.

Lyft stated in a blog post that the partnership is currently fulfilling 2,500 rides weekly in New York City. However, President of National MedTrans Network, Billy McKee hopes to increase this number dramatically with the company aiming to send its 25,000 livery trips that it currently completes weekly in New York City through to the Lyft platform.

While customers of all ages with no smartphone and requiring non-emergency medical transportation could benefit from the service, senior citizens are currently filling Lyft’s 2,500 weekly trips. It is not surprising considering the majority of seniors will have regular medical appointments and may lack the necessary transportation required to reach their doctors. In addition, more than a quarter of seniors aged over 65 years do not own a smartphone, or are simply afraid of using different apps, so ordering a Lyft is not so simple.

While the pilot of the Concierge app is currently underway in New York City, we will have to wait and see whether Lyft extends the program to other cities.

Image credit: Tony Webster, Flickr