Tech company offers Vancouver-made ride-hailing alternative
Posted March 11, 2017 8:10 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Ride-hailing could be coming to our province, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to roll with the likes of US-based Uber and Lyft.
The chief executive of Vancouver-based carpooling app Spare Rides, Kristoffer Vik Hansen, says his tool has ridehailing capabilities if an organization wants to team up to provide a local alternative to the better known giants.
“At the current point, we’re not looking at operating the service ourselves,” Says Vik Hansen. “We’re looking at giving the technology to some other partner that already has operations going.”
Naturally, the question then becomes — would Vik Hansen offer his tool to the likes of cab companies? The province is after all handing the taxi industry $1-million to develop its own app to remain competitive once the new service arrives.
“That’s one of the possibilities,” says Vik Hansen. “But, just to let you know, our application is already compatible — so, it doesn’t really need a million dollars to get it up and running.”
The BC Liberals have pledged to bring ride-hailing to our province by year’s end if that party wins May’s election. That promise followed an earlier push by the BC Green Party to get going on legalizing the service here.
