“Transport poverty is one of the least well understood and most neglected social justice issues across the country at the moment,” says Alex Shapland-Howes, co-founder and CEO of Ride Tandem.
This neglect is what led to Shapland-Howes founding the London-headquartered mobility startup in 2019. A meeting with a group of fathers a little over three years ago, at a place just outside of Rochdale, highlighted a problem facing large swathes of the UK – getting to work when there are no local jobs, public transport is limited and you cannot drive.
Ride Tandem is tackling this problem via its platform that connects existing transportation services – such as taxis, mini-buses, and coaches – with commuters who live in parts of the country typically underserviced by both public and private transportation....