TransLink selects Vancouver firm to create Uber-like app for HandyDART | Daily Hive

TransLink selects Vancouver company to create Uber-like app for HandyDART

Example of Spare's TransLink app for HandyDART. (Spare/TransLink)

TransLink is rolling out the first changes under its new HandyDART Customer-First Plan, bringing later service hours and laying the groundwork for a major digital upgrade aimed at improving accessibility and convenience for the door-to-door paratransit shuttle service across Metro Vancouver.

Beginning Jan. 11, 2026, HandyDART service hours will extend until 2 a.m., aligning more closely with SkyTrain’s end time. The change is expected to give passengers of the service greater flexibility for late-night travel, including work shifts, social outings, community events, concerts, and sporting events.

Passengers will be able to start booking late-night trips as early as Jan. 4. Dispatch services will also be available until 2 a.m. to assist with bookings and questions. While the service window is expanding, the advance booking process remains unchanged, with trips booked between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., and a 4 p.m. cutoff for next-day service.

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In addition to the extended hours, TransLink announced it has selected Vancouver-based transportation technology company Spare to develop new software that will modernize the HandyDART experience.

This new digital system, currently in development and expected to launch in 2027, will allow passengers and caregivers to book and cancel trips online through a smartphone app or website at any time. It will replace TransLink’s decades-old legacy systems for HandyDART.

Example of Spare’s TransLink app for HandyDART. (Spare/TransLink)

Not entirely dissimilar to ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft, other planned features include real-time vehicle tracking and improved trip notifications and alerts, as well as easier customer feedback and a simplified application and registration process. The existing phone booking line will remain available for passengers who prefer to book by phone.

According to Spare’s website, the decade-old Vancouver company specializes in digital platforms and tools for paratransit and on-demand public transit services used by public transit authorities and universities. Its technology is widely tested, with a strong track record for reliability, on-time performance, and system uptime. Spare’s platforms have supported hundreds of service launches across Canada and the United States, accounting for more than 25 million rides to date.

Last fall, Spare shared that bringing their platforms and tools to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s paratransit service, The RIDE, was their largest launch yet, with the complex transition process taking eight months.

Example of Spare’s TransLink app for HandyDART. (Spare/TransLink)

Founded by graduates of the University of British Columbia, Spare initially emerged as one of the earliest attempts to launch a ride-sharing service in Metro Vancouver — before the legal approval of ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft. The company later pivoted its focus to addressing service gaps in public transit and paratransit.

“Extending HandyDART hours and advancing a new online booking tool are huge steps forward in our Customer-First Plan, which delivers what customers told us they want,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn in a statement.

“These improvements will make HandyDART easier to use and give customers more flexibility in their day.”

The service expansion builds on recent enhancements to HandyDART, including the introduction of Compass fare payment on vehicles, simplified age-based fare discounts, and a modernized cancellation policy designed to improve vehicle availability.

TransLink indicates these latest initiatives mark the beginning of a broader effort to improve customer experience and accessibility through the HandyDART Customer-First Plan, with more changes expected in the years ahead.

In December 2025, TransLink’s board of directors approved the recommendations made by TransLink staff to not bring its HandyDART service in-house as a publicly-operated entity, instead choosing to improve services under the contracted private operator model through the new HandyDART Customer-First Plan. This would avoid major new ongoing operating costs for the public transit authority, which asserts there is room for improvement to services within the existing privately-operated model.

HandyDART ridership has yet to fully return to its pre-pandemic levels, with the service seeing 1.18 million trips in 2023 and 1.17 million trips in 2024 — down from 1.38 million trips in 2019, but up from the pandemic-time low of 0.62 million in 2020.

In 2024, 77 per cent of HandyDART trips were made using the dedicated shuttle vehicles, and the remaining 23 per cent were performed on taxis. The most recent statistics indicate that for the month of September 2025, more than 83,000 trips (73 per cent) were made using a dedicated shuttle vehicle and nearly 30,000 trips were completed with a taxi (27 per cent) — consistent with overall recent historic trends. According to TransLink staff, the proportion of trips fulfilled by taxis is relatively low — compared to peer systems with rates of 30 per cent to over 50 per cent.

Separately, TransLink is in the process of pursuing a major overhaul of the Compass fare payment system’s technology and hardware, which would enable the creation of a new Compass smartphone app that could potentially offer additional payment options by mobile.

HandyDART. (TransLink)

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