Taneka Jones makes use of a ride-sharing program to take on more shifts parking cars at Notre Dame. SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE FILE
SOUTH BEND — A city of South Bend grant-funded, employer-based program that helps pay for workers’ Uber, Lyft and Transpo rides to and from work will soon also help a group of nonprofits’ low-income clients access jobs and a wide range of other things.
The city’s Ride Guarantee, launched in September 2019 with help from enFocus and a $1 million grant that the Mayor Pete Buttigieg administration won from Bloomberg Philanthropies, is partnering with United Way of St. Joseph County in the new venture. This summer they received applications from 22 nonprofits and picked 11 whose clients will start receiving the services on Friday.
The existing employer-based program caps the price of Uber and Lyft rides at $5 and gives unlimited free Transpo bus rides. It will let the nonprofit clients choose four free Uber rides per month and an unlimited Transpo pass, or 10 free Uber rides per month. Users must pay any costs above $35 for Uber or Lyft rides, and the rides must start or end in the county.
The nonprofit clients will be able to use the service for rides to and from jobs, education, health care, child care, accessing food and social services.
“For us, the one thing we hear over and over is the lack of transportation being the number one barrier,” said United Way of St. Joseph County CEO Laura Jensen. “It’s something we think is really exciting and we’re grateful to be able to do.”
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