Indiana University Bloomington is partnering with Uber to launch a new campuswide rideshare program to expand transportation access for students, faculty and staff.
HoosierShare by Uber aims to make transportation more affordable and accessible to the community and reduce vehicle emissions. Rides are available 24/7.
Uber has partnered with universities around the country, but IU Bloomington is the first to use Uber’s Closed Loop Share feature, which allows up to three verified IU riders to share a trip if going in the same direction. Riders also save up to 20 percent off standard UberX fares.
People can request rides that must start and end within the IU Ride service zone, which includes Lower Cascades Park and Karst Farm Park.
Lukas Leftwich, associate vice chancellor of campus auxiliaries, said they chose to limit eligible riders to those affiliated with IU to help create a safer environment.
“We are assuring that they are active members of the community, that people can feel safe just as if they were walking through the campus in any other space,” he said. “They know that this is a member of the community.”
IU’s other free transportation programs include IU Ride, which provides rides for the IU community daily from 7:30 p.m. to 1:45 a.m., and IU Ride Late Nite by Lyft, which serves IU students Friday-Sunday from midnight to 1:45 a.m. Leftwich said HoosierShare by Uber is intended to supplement these options and provide extended access in areas where buses aren’t as present, such as by the IU Health Bloomington Hospital on State Road 45/46.
“Maybe it doesn't make sense at the macro level, to have a bus route, for instance, just directly to the hospital, and we have a low ridership in that area for bus,” he said, “but maybe we can set this up same geo fence type of system to have riders be able to pick up and go directly to a route that may have sporadic service by bus, or maybe very low ridership.”
The program will soft launch in a couple weeks during the weekend of the Little 500 bike race. The first 10,000 riders will get $5 off their first trip.
