Via Now Offers Veterans In The DC Region Free Rides

Veterans in the DC region can now book almost 4 free rides monthly via Via (the ride-sharing firm). The new VetRides initiative can assist veterans reach classes, medical appointments, and job interviews.

VetRides is being provided in association with the DFHV (Department of For-Hire Vehicles) and the MOVA (DC Mayor’s Office for Veterans Affairs). Veterans can enroll for the service via MOVA, and they will be capable of booking rides via a call center or the Via mobile app. Via will provide wheelchair-supported cars.

“All of veterans in the DC deserve access to their federal advantages and a pathway to the middle class, VetRides offers that ability via transport to their employment opportunities, medical appointments, housing appointments, and education,” Elliot Tommingo, MOVA Director, claimed to the media in an interview.

Via’s vans are accessible in a few cities, and the firm has been testing new models. Previous year, Texas ended its public bus service in support of ride-sharing vans by Via. It has shuttled travelers to and from railway stations, and it has shared its tech with public schools of NYC in an effort to enhance present systems for school bus. It is unclear when or if Via will bring VetRides to other regions.

On a related note, self-driving tech has the ability to elevate road security, as some dramatic clips from firms have displayed. Nevertheless, the other side of it has made bigger news due to tarnished collisions during autonomous tests in Tesla and Uber cars that led to deaths.

As such, Lyft has joined GM, Ford, Uber, and Toyota as a core member of the AVSC (Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium), established in April 2019 with the aim of driving self-driving vehicle security. Membership in the group will let Lyft to “support industry leaders on structures for security, foster cross-sector collaboration, and share best practices,” it claimed.