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Stranded and need to get back home to rural P.E.I. late at night? Right now, Islanders might find themselves at a loss with few transportation options available.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s set to change in June, when the provincial government introduces a pilot project with a local ride-hailing company to help people travel safely in rural areas. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been the 40-year-old that has called mom and dad to come get me \u2014 in certain occasions you have limited options,\u201d said Finance Minister Jill Burridge, who grew up in Souris.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt fills a gap that has been missing for a lot of years in rural communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
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P.E.I. Finance Minister Jill Burridge says the rural ride-hailing pilot project is recruiting for drivers in rural areas now. (Rick Gibbs\/CBC)<\/p>\n
The pilot project will be offered through the ride-booking app Kari to areas like Souris, North Rustico and Tignish. Burridge said it will cost the government around $30,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The province is partnering with the P.E.I. Liquor Control Commission to deliver the project, which aims to reduce impaired driving by providing people with more safe transportation options.\u00a0<\/p>\n
P.E.I. has the highest rate of police-reported impaired driving incidents across all Canadian provinces at about three times the national average, according to Statistics Canada data.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy vision is that we do have a Kari rural ride that functions seamlessly in our communities across P.E.I., that people are getting home safely and that there is that extra option for people,\u201d Burridge said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matt MacLeod, co-founder of Kari, told CBC News last year that the company has been working on expanding its services across the Island in recent years, but found it challenging to recruit drivers in rural communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because ride requests in those areas are less frequent, he said, it\u2019s difficult to maintain a steady network of drivers who are consistently available.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The new pilot program aims to combat this issue through government funding. Islanders will still pay for each ride, but the provincial money will be set aside to top up drivers’ wages to ensure they meet a pre-established minimum amount for each shift.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Liberal Opposition Leader Hal Perry has been offering a sober driving service to people in the Tignish area for 15 years. He said he spends half of his weekends each year driving locals to and from events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Official Opposition Leader Hal Perry says he welcomes the rural ride-hailing pilot project. He says he spends around half of his weekends each year driving people to and from different events. (Rick Gibbs\/CBC)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d love to see this being offered 24\/7, 365 days a year, and that\u2019s the hope that I have that it will turn out to be something that\u2019s permanent,\u201d Perry said, adding that the service could help Islanders feel safer on the roads late at night by reducing the number of impaired drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to know that they have that option if they want to go out.\u2026 They can let their hair down and know that they\u2019re going to have a safe drive home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to a news release from the province, drivers will be operating from the following base locations:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Souris.Morell.Eldon.North Rustico.Crapaud.Kensington.Richmond.O’Leary.Tignish.<\/p>\n
Drivers involved in the pilot program will not be deployed in urban areas or those that have pre-existing taxi services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Service hours will vary based on local need but schedules will include evenings and weekends, according to the news release.<\/p>\n
Applications are open now for drivers in those rural areas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-462288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}