Bloomington Transit will work with Go Bloomington to provide guaranteed rides home. This is in addition to Bloomington Transit’s existing relationship with Uber and Lyft.
Go Bloomington helps people find alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles. The program will issue several vouchers per month for participants to tap into Bloomington Transit’s partnership with Uber and Lyft even if they don’t use Bloomington Transit system. The program, called emergency ride home, is a guaranteed ride home no matter the situation, according to Jeffrey Jackson, the Transportation Demand Manager for City of Bloomington's Transportation Demand Management Program.
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“We will have our own relationship with Uber and Lyft as well. We're just using the accounts they've already set up, so you don't have to use Bloomington Transit to get a guaranteed ride home from Go Bloomington…whatever the circumstances are,” said Jackson.
Bloomington Transit has a few programs in place for after-hour services where buses might not be running, but public transport users might still require a ride. General Manager of Bloomington Transit John Connell said this partnership seemed like the right step to make full use of these services.
“Go Bloomington started to think about their guaranteed ride home program. Instead of recreating the wheel, they reached out to us to discuss possibly partnering,” said Connell. “It will be pretty seamless for us to put together a new voucher to satisfy that demand.”
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Bloomington Transit will seek an interlocal agreement in which Go Bloomington will reimburse Bloomington Transit for costs of the rides.
