Driving Change: Spare's new partnership with Uber
Learn how we're unlocking the potential of existing vehicle fleets and driving the shift towards more sustainable, accessible, and cost-effective transport services. This is the story of innovation, collaboration, and a shared vision for a future where every seat counts.
Today we’re announcing an exciting new partnership with Uber, opening up the ability for transit agencies around the world to tap into the Uber network through Spare Open Fleets. The origins of this story go way back—almost 8 years.
When we started Spare, our original goal and namesake was to “Share the spare seat in every vehicle already on the road.” We believed then, and still do today, that the best way to improve mobility for all was not to increase the number of vehicles on the road, but rather to reduce them.
How do you do this? Well if you can’t fully redesign the city, the next best thing is to create mobility services that are higher quality than owning your own car and similar or lower in cost. That has been our mission from day one.
Lyft and Uber have an incredible network of drivers already on the road, however they have been historically difficult for transit agencies to access. When we discovered this gap back in 2019, we thought immediately about all those spare seats that could be utilized to drive people away from car ownership and onto mobility services. So we began working on the infrastructure that would be needed to support fleets of this nature. We launched Lyft around this time last year, and with the launch of Uber and several other taxi providers, we now have over 90% of all “bookable” vehicles available on Spare.
Our collaboration with Uber has already made a tangible impact at Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority and DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit), where we have efficiently delivered trips on a large scale. In particular, DART has expanded its services into 30 new zones and is now providing several thousand trips on a daily basis. We are thrilled to be working together with Uber to meet the evolving needs of communities and get one step closer to unlocking the potential of mobility services for everyone.