Subsidized Carpool Rides: There's an App for That

Theo Douglas reports: "the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) began a new partnership with San Francisco-based Scoop Technologies Inc., during which it will spend $2 per ride to incentivize residents to use the carpooling application during weekday drive times."

"The effort is funded by $30,000 from Measure J, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Transportation Fund for Clean Air, and will last until those monies run out," adds Douglas.

The program in Contra Costa mirrors a program launched in April in Seattle, when the city and some of its largest employers also funded incentives for Scoop rides. Compare the example of subsidized carpool rides, as with these example partnerships with Scoop, with decisions by other cities to subsidize rides with transportation network companies like Lyft and Uber. Altamonte Springs, a suburb of Orlando in Florida, was the first city to subsidize rides with Uber, back in 2016.