Today, we launched Canada’s first ridesharing-transit partnership, with the Town of Innisfil. This partnership will not only encourage residents of the town to access local transit hubs but will also help them get around town and explore the community.

Through this partnership, the Town of Innisfil will subsidize a portion of the fare for all trips taken by residents within Innisfil, while offering additional subsidies for rides going to and from transit hubs.

“We are excited to launch this new solution to provide our residents with safe, accessible and reliable transportation,” said Innisfil Mayor Gord Wauchope. “Rather than place a bus on the road to serve just a few residents, we are moving ahead with a better service that can transport people from all across our town to wherever they need to go.”

This partnership will help Innisfil residents connect with the Barrie-South GO Station, and the local GO Bus line. Ridesharing has become a first mile/last mile complement with public transit in cities around the world. The American Public Transportation Association, to which many Canadian transit authorities are members, published a study last year that found that people who routinely use “shared modes” of transportation (e.g., bikesharing, carsharing, and ridesharing) were more likely to use public transit.

Realizing these trends are already happening, more and more transit authorities and cities are entering into formal agreements with ridesharing companies to help connect people to public transit, like in the feeder communities of New York City and Orlando, or improve paratransit services for the elderly and disabled, as with a pilot program in Boston.

To learn more, visit uber.com/cities/innisfil/partnership