Why This Matters – The Problem
Millions of Americans, including older adults, people with disabilities and economically disadvantaged people, lack access to safe and reliable transportation. For individuals, a lack of transportation means reduced access to work, essential services such as groceries and medical care, and a lower overall quality of life. For communities, inadequate transportation perpetuates economic and societal inequity and can result in more poverty, more crime, and higher costs for everything from public assistance to law enforcement.
Why This Matters – The Goal
Providing safe and reliable transportation that is accessible for everyone makes it possible for all people, including those who are not able to use conventional forms of public transportation to participate more equally in everything that communities have to offer—from jobs to schools, to shopping, and everything in-between. In short, providing transportation that is accessible and equitable for everyone results in communities that are more accessible and equitable for everyone.
Introducing UZURV
For decades, communities, transit agencies, healthcare organizations and other transportation providers have been working to develop an approach for meeting the unique transportation needs of people with disabilities and older adults. And while tremendous progress has been made, surveys of people with disabilities, older adults and other stakeholders continue to identify access to accessible, convenient and affordable transportation as one of the top two or three barriers to equal participation in society.
UZURV was founded in 2017 to solve for this seemingly intractable challenge. Our idea was to tweak the wildly popular Transportation Network Company (TNC) model to make it accessible for people with disabilities, older adults and others who were often unable to use traditional TNC services, and then offer this new “Adapted TNC” model to transit agencies, healthcare providers and managed care organizations as a cost-effective alternative to traditional shared-ride paratransit services.
We began our journey in 2017 through a partnership with our hometown transit agency, the Greater Richmond Transit Company, and we have been growing ever since. Today, UZURV provides thousands of trips each day across 20 states, and we are planning for additional growth in the weeks, months and years to come.
How UZURV Works
UZURV brings public transit agencies, local transportation providers, non-profit organizations, health care providers and a network of credentialed drivers together under a single Mobility-on-Demand platform that is designed to deliver safe, reliable and affordable transportation, and we create tremendous value for all involved. Here’s how.
- For Riders – UZURV provides an accessible on-demand transportation service through a network of well-qualified, highly-trained drivers operating safe, clean and comfortable vehicles.
- For Drivers – UZURV offers extra income and flexible part-time work that is meaningful, impactful, and pays well.
- For communities, public transit agencies, and health care providers – UZURV offers a safe, fully compliant, flexible and cost-effective on-demand transportation service that customers enjoy using and that costs less than traditional shared-ride paratransit.
We’ve all been conditioned to believe in trade-offs. For example, you can have good service, or you can create a good environment for your drivers, but you can’t have both, and you can’t do either unless you’re willing to pay extra. At UZURV, we’re proving that you can have a good service that costs less, and we can meet the needs of riders, drivers, and communities at the same time. Over the next three installments of this four-part series, we will dive deeper into the UZURV approach for meeting rider needs, for creating rewarding opportunities for our drivers, and for addressing the transportation needs of our community. This all starts with helping transit agency and healthcare provider organizations who are looking for solutions that deliver on both quality and affordability. So stay tuned and get ready to learn more about our drive to deliver improved paratransit results for riders, drivers, and mobility agencies alike.