Made-in-the-Maritimes rideshare service launches in Charlotte County

Article content

St. Stephen is hoping a made-in-the-Maritimes rideshare app will help residents get around town – and possibly beyond.

Future St. Stephen, the town’s economic development agency, has agreed to a six-month pilot project with Kari, a P.E.I.-based rideshare startup that has seen success in expanding service to rural areas, according to interim president Jeremy Barham.

“Almost all of the regular rideshare companies that exist definitely are not interested in rural areas,” Barham said. “I was … really excited to watch them grow successfully on P.E.I. and then begin to serve the whole island.”

Co-founder Matt MacLeod said the project was spearheaded by himself and Len Currie, and they’ve been able to offer a service that has “made lives easier” in greater Charlottetown and rural P.E.I.

“It’s a grassroots initiative. We figured at some point, somebody was going to take the initiative to jump on ridesharing in the region … and we thought, why not us?” MacLeod said.

MacLeod has a media, marketing and operations background, and Currie has a computer science and tech background.

The project launched April 2, and the P.E.I.-based team is responsible for operations while Future St. Stephen is offering “some financial support” and is responsible for promoting the project, Barham said.

It will be looking at a flyer drop to residents, social media as well as information session for seniors, he said.

MacLeod said it was “really interesting” to see Future St. Stephen “champion something” and build excitement about it.

“Then we can come in to … offer some of the first transportation options that will be on-demand in their market,” he said. “It’s really exciting for us because this is a model, specifically for New Brunswick, that could be quite successful.”

Barham said there’s “definitely demand” for transportation in the St. Stephen area, which lacks public transit or an active taxi service.

Taxi companies have tried but found it “difficult to be sustainable” in Charlotte County, he said, but “rideshare is very different.”

Kari offers an app-based service where you request a ride and are connected to a local driver, with payment taking place online. The number of drivers adjusts with demand, Barham said.

“The awesome thing about Kari is that they’ll figure out what demand is … and then they’ll offer shifts to drivers as demand ebbs and flows,” Barham said. “It’s more sustainable than having someone sitting in the car waiting for the phone to ring.”

MacLeod said the “most important thing is to allow our drivers to be successful,” saying that drivers can use the service to “put food on the table,” pay tuition, save for a home or adjust to seasonal work.

“We’ve seen it first hand here, we’ll have people that say … I’m going make money for few hours, it fits their schedule,” he said, saying they keep 100 per cent of tips and about 70 per cent of fares.

He said to be reliable, they need drivers to be “online and ready to go” when riders want them, which is part of their commitment to the project. They are aiming for wait times under 12 minutes, he said.

“We do what we call pop-up shifts, and guarantee minimum payment for a pre-determined number of drivers,” he said, saying that can increase from one or two drivers as demand requires.

Signing up is a simple procedure online, Barham said, with “pretty good response” already.

MacLeod says they help drivers with insurance, and through the process of getting a Class 4R licence and a criminal record check, they can vet their driving history and ensure the vehicles meet minimum standards.

There is interest in expanding farther into Charlotte County, Barham said, saying “there is volume” in rural Canada, it’s just “spread out.”

MacLeod said “you have to crawl before you can walk” but they are looking to start with a five- to 10-kilometres radius initially, then expand gradually to about 25 kilometres. Then, he said, they can repeat the process, with three regions identified so far, he said.

At first, they plan to start with daytime service starting at 7 a.m., with added hours some evenings, before expanding out, MacLeod said. He said because they’re a small team, they can move quickly to respond to trends.

“You need to have a goal and a timeline to evaluate things, and that’s exactly what we’re doing in St. Stephen. We know we’ll have key moments when we’ll say, we can ramp things up at this point, or we can temper it … it’s a balancing act.”

Barham said no one service can solve 100 per cent of the problem, saying FSS is also collaborating with services like Charlotte County Dial-a-Ride, which helps residents get to appointments with 48-hour notice, and the Project:Village electric car share program.

“We all see each other as very much a community-driven transport solution for the region,” he said.

Mayor Allan MacEachern called it a “prime opportunity” for the company to fill a need.

“I wish them the best and I hope the community will support them,” he said. “We’ve been hollering about this for a few years.”

MacLeod said that trust from a community “doesn’t happen on day one,” saying they hope to offer a service that “will work out of the box” and can take feedback directly, saying they’ll do “whatever we can to make it successful … for the community.”

“We’re providing a crucial piece to moving people around … so I think a lot of people are going to be excited to have some kind of a solution that is going to be consistent, reliable and accountable,” he said.

More information is available at meetkari.com.