Cities spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year on paratransit services, or public transportation for people with disabilities, but these services remain limited and unpredictable. Wheelchair users are often late for pick-ups and may miss work or medical appointments. As the population ages, the strain on these services and city budgets continues to grow.
Vancouver-based startup Spare claims it is applying cutting-edge technology to improve cities' paratransit systems and add more on-demand services. The company's software-as-a-service platform integrates different types of local transportation services, such as wheelchair-accessible paratransit services, local on-demand microtransit operators, and even ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, and matches passengers with the right service and vehicle operator to meet their needs.
“For example, if someone has a temporary disability and would be okay with using Uber, instead of sending a large wheelchair accessible vehicle with a highly trained driver, we can send them an Uber,” Spare CEO Kristoffer Vik Hansen told TechCrunch. “You pay the same cost, but the transportation burden is much lower. And that's where the secret sauce comes in.”
Vic Hansen noted that many cities run their paratransit services “very inefficiently, using very old technology, including software that's 20 or 30 years old, which makes them very expensive to operate.”
He noted that New York City's paratransit service is one of the most expensive in the country: The MTA is spending $517 million on paratransit service in 2023, up from $412 million in 2022.
“We started Spare to build an operational system that transit agencies and cities can use to build a better transit system for everyone: back-office staff, drivers, and passengers,” says Vik Hansen, “and also reduce the cost of providing those services.”
The CEO also said that Spare's AI can use historical trip data, driver performance, and real-time traffic information from Google to create more efficient routes and provide more on-demand paratransit services.
The startup's main competitor is Via. Since acquiring Remix in 2021, Via has expanded from an on-demand microtransit operator to a transportation technology company that provides cities and agencies with everything from back-end software to run transit services and applications for passengers and drivers to data and planning tools to improve existing systems.
By focusing on paratransit, Spare has been able to carve out a niche and expand into larger cities. A Via spokesperson said Via's software is used in 750 cities in 40 countries, but only 100 of those offer paratransit integration. Spare's software is used in more than 200 cities across North America, Europe and Japan, including Austin, Dallas, the Bay Area, Stockholm and Osaka. While those cities are focused on paratransit, Vik Hansen said Spare is also active in offering microtransit and is exploring ways to incorporate non-emergency medical and school transportation services.
The company's technology and approach have attracted the attention of investors who want to help Spare expand into new verticals and geographies. The company has raised $30 million (CAD42 million) in Series B funding led by Inovia Capital, with participation from Kensington Capital and Nicola Wealth, TechCrunch has learned exclusively.
“As early backers in the Series A round, we've watched Spare evolve from a promising startup into a major player in transportation,” Dylan Freese, director at Kensington Capital, said in a statement. “We hope this new funding will enable Spare to drive further innovation and enable more transportation agencies to deliver flexible, efficient and modern services.”