MILWAUKEE — A different kind of rideshare company celebrates its 100,000th ride in Milwaukee.
FlexRide Milwaukee started in 2022 as a way for people living in Milwaukee’s residential areas to get to work at job sites in the suburbs.
Mobilize Executive Director Dave Steele says the service started with only five riders.
“To see it grow to now 5000 riders that we’ve served, and more than 100,000 rides, I think it shows that there’s a demand for a different type of workforce transportation service.”
FlexRide fares are as low as $3 for an adult or $1.50 for a senior, or someone with a disability but weekly and monthly options are also available. Steele says costs are kept low by pooling multiple people into one ride, and through grant money to pay drivers and maintain the fleet.
Steele says he is always looking for ways to expand, and pointed to college students in the city as another group where there could be demand for low-cost transportation.
He adds that FlexRide isn’t intended as a service to compete as an alternative to county bus lines, but augment them, noting that loading zones for the service are only in areas where bus service isn’t available.
Steele describes how often the service gets used, “It really varies a lot. Some of our riders are every single day, five days a week. Some of them are two or three times a month.”
He adds that peoples reasons for using the service as well, saying daily riders may not have a car of their own or only have one car for multiple people, while others only need FlexRide while their car is being repaired.
