Sabrina Taylor, Contributing Photographer

Thanks to a new public transit initiative, New Haveners can request on-demand rides to local supermarkets, offices and hospitals for less than two dollars.

In a Thursday press conference, the city announced the launch of Via NHV, a publicly funded rideshare service that provides car rides across New Haven for a fare of $1.75 per one-way ride. Lower fares are available for low-income riders and seniors. The service offers rides in select regions of the city, including the west side of New Haven and in Fair Haven, where other transit options are less densely available.

The program, which launched as a two-year pilot program on March 11, aims to provide a low-cost alternative to buses, biking and walking, especially for city residents who do not own their own cars. In particular, city leaders hope the service will improve work commutes. There are 50,000 jobs within Via NHV’s service territory, according to Michael Piscatelli, the city’s economic development administrator.

“If you live on the west side of the city, or you live in Fair Haven, for $1.75, Via will pick you up and take you where you need to go,” Piscatelli said. “In the city, you have to get to Key Foods? They are going to take you. You need to get to the hospital, to work, or for other reasons? They will take you.”

New Haven is one of nine cities participating in the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Microtransit Pilot Program, a $19.5 million effort sponsored by the governor. The other eight programs launched last year and have completed more than 100,000 trips in total, according to Ben Limmer, the bureau chief of public transportation at CT DOT.

Since Via NHV launched in March, popular destinations have included Union Station, Yale New Haven Hospital, office buildings and supermarkets.

To use the service, city residents can download the Via HNV app, select a destination and receive directions to a nearby corner for pickup. The app will identify other riders who are headed in the same direction and group them together.

The initiative is one step in building a more redundant, diverse transit apparatus in New Haven, according to Sandeep Aysola, director of transportation, traffic and parking for the city.

“How do you build a system where you create choices for people?” Aysola said. “Microtransit is one of those pieces to fill that puzzle that’s around having some accessible transportation across the city.”

Via NHV is a partnership with Via Transportation, a company that operates public microtransit systems in more than 750 locations globally. To plan the New Haven implementation, Via staff synthesized census data to identify regions where the service would be most useful. Currently, Via NHV services are not available in much of eastern New Haven.

“We do not want to compete with or cannibalize the already good transit options that are available in New Haven,” Sara-Jessica Dilks, Via’s public relations principal, told the News. “It’s in these selective areas where perhaps the coverage is not quite as good, so that we’re extending the reach of traditional transit versus getting into a situation where everyone wants a minivan and could damage the ecosystem of the bus network.”

Under the pilot program, Via NHV operates six vehicles and employs roughly 15-20 drivers, according to Sophie Cappello ’20, an expansion principal at Via.

Like Uber and Lyft, drivers employed with Via NHV set their own hours. But instead of receiving payment per ride, drivers earn an hourly wage and can take breaks throughout the day without losing money. Drivers make $19.50 per hour for regular car rides and $21 per hour when driving wheelchair-accessible vehicles, according to driver Moriken Sangary, who worked for other rideshare services for more than 10 years.

“Driving for Uber and Lyft, some days I would come out with nothing, because I’m using my own money for gas,” Sangary said. “With this one, I’m driving. That’s all I’m doing.”

Via NHV operates from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.