Subsidized ride program might be scaled back

Jun. 8—The United Way of Frederick County, working with the ride-hailing company Lyft, has provided thousands of free or reduced-fare rides to low-income families and individuals in the county.

In coordination with the United Way, the new nonprofit Good Works Frederick is seeking state funding to expand the Ride United program and send volunteer drivers to reach low-income families and individuals in rural areas of the county.

Good Works Frederick, though, will not begin offering rides until January 2023. And beginning in July, the United Way will scale back the ride program to analyze data from the first year.

Moreover, demand for the Ride United, in a pilot stage, has outpaced available funding.

"We definitely can't continue at our current volume," said Ken Oldham, president and CEO of the United Way of Frederick County.

Through Ride United, the United Way offers some Lyft riders up to $25 in credit per one-way ride. The rider pays the rest.

The pilot version launched last October to help asset-limited and income constrained but employed (ALICE) households get rides to local COVID-19 vaccine clinics.

Oldham said Ride United completed 100 one-way rides on Monday alone. He said the program fulfills a few hundred rides per week. He estimated the program will have fulfilled roughly 4,000 one-way rides by the end of June.

The pilot version of the Ride United program is scheduled to end July 1, Oldham said.

Beginning in July, Ride United will remain available to riders from more than a dozen local nonprofit organizations. It will also be available through 211 Maryland to military veterans and people seeking rides to vaccine appointments or to a local library.

Kristianne Leibley, a parent support coordinator for the Housing Authority of the City of Frederick, said Ride United has been "empowering" for residents of Housing Authority properties and has saved time and money. Ride-hailing trips can be expensive, she said.

A parent might have to pay for a Lyft or Uber to drop a child off at child care before arriving at work, and pay for the same two-stop trip on the way home. Ride United made this daily travel more affordable.

Leibley said she has spoken with residents about the possibility of no longer being able to rely on Ride United when the pilot version of the program ends.

"My worry is, what will the transition look like?" Leibley said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Terri Gray, the director of the Frederick Rescue Mission's Faith House, which provides housing for women and children experiencing homelessness, said the women she serves have similar concerns.

Oldham said Ride United rides will remain available to organizations such as the Housing Authority and Faith House that are partners in the program.

But partner organizations are granted a finite number of Lyft ride credits through the program. The number that United Way grants them might decrease.

It is not yet clear how many fewer rides will be fulfilled following July 1, Oldham said. The number will depend on funding United Way can secure.

The United Way has spent more than $75,000 in funding from United Way Worldwide, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

Oldham said the organization applied for more funding from United Way Worldwide and is hoping for another $75,000 to purchase more Lyft ride credits.

During the three-month assessment period, the United Way will continue to seek private donations, too.

The organization can use a $50,000 allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act that County Executive Jan Gardner, D, announced in May.

Congress passed the $350 billion plan to assist state and local governments in their long-term pandemic recovery efforts. The United Way's allocation was drawn from the $50 million the county received.

Good Works Frederick will provide a base of volunteer drivers who will focus on ride requests around Brunswick and Knoxville and around Emmitsburg and Thurmont — areas that lack enough affordable transportation options for low-income families and individuals.

"Beyond the city limits of Frederick city, there just are no transportation options available for anybody, and that includes Uber and Lyft," Good Works Frederick founder Ed Hinde said during a Frederick County Council meeting Tuesday.

Hinde called on the council to vote to let the county apply for a $250,000 state grant on behalf of Good Works Frederick. The County Council is scheduled to vote on the measure on June 14.

The $250,000 would come from the federally funded Maryland Community Development Block Grant Program, to help county and municipal governments fund development projects and improve public facilities and services, according to county documents.

Hinde said the funding would help reimburse volunteer drivers for gas and mileage. Expenses will also be covered with $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding from the county.

Good Works Frederick will not begin offering rides until January 2023, Hinde wrote in a text message Tuesday.

It is not clear how many volunteer drivers Good Works Frederick will have, but Hinde wrote that he wants the new nonprofit to resemble NeighborRide, a program based in Columbia with about 300 volunteer drivers.

If Drive United has to decrease the number of ride requests it can fill in coming months, Gray said Faith House residents would have to resume relying on public transit, which has been free during the pandemic but unreliable at times.

One woman at the center was unable to work on Sundays because public transit does not run those days, Gray said. She could afford to pay for Ride United and it allowed her to pick up extra hours.

Another woman couldn't work full time at her retail job because her shift would end too late to be able to catch a bus home. Ride United allowed her to work more hours.

Gray estimated that 10 of the 13 women who reside at the Faith House rely on Ride United for transportation.

Two more women are scheduled to move into the Faith House this week, Gray said. Neither own a vehicle and they may also turn to Ride United.

"The women are praying that the program will be able to continue," Gray said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Follow Jack Hogan on Twitter: @jckhogan