Poparide, the Canadian “Airbnb” for ridesharing, launches in Québec
Québec City, September 21, 2017 — The largest intercity rideshare platform in Western Canada launches in Québec and signs up over 5,000 members in its first month of operation thanks to its Québec partners.
Amongst sharing economy success stories, we all know of Airbnb and Uber, that provide convenient travel solutions for millions of people around the world.
It’s in this category that the Canadian company Poparide launched its service in Vancouver in December 2014. Co-founder Flo Devellennes explains he had emigrated to Canada from Europe and had quickly discovered a lack of intercity transport solutions. “I was driving regularly between Vancouver and Whistler to go skiing and picked up many hitchhikers from the side of the road. They told me how expensive and slow the bus was, and that’s when I had the idea for Poparide.”
Poparide is an online ridesharing platform that lets drivers offer empty seats when driving between cities. In three years, the service has attracted over 50,000 members in British Columbia. “We were inspired by Airbnb to build a solution that is convenient and easy-to-use with a mobile app, online payments and verified profiles to facilitate trust amongst members”, says Devellennes.
Since the beginning of 2016, the company has started expanding outside of British Columbia, starting with Alberta, followed by Ontario and now Québec. “For Québec, we wanted to partner with people there to offer a service suitable for the Québec market,” explains Devellennes.
That’s how Philippe Langlois and Yan Poirier, two young entrepreneurs from Québec City, joined the adventure. “We had observed a lack of competition in the Québec market and a need for a more modern ridesharing solution. Our research lead us to Poparide, that had a service already developed and tested in Western Canada. We decided to join their vision to offer a convenient, coast-to-coast rideshare platform for all Canadians”, says Yan Poirier, now Québec partner.
With the help of their Québec partners, the company translated the platform into French to launch in Québec. Devellennes says, “Our mission is to offer a service that works anywhere in Canada and helps people travel easily and cheaply between cities. Since our launch in Québec at the end of July, we’ve had 5,000 people sign up and already 1,000 trips offered.”
Ridesharing already exists in Québec and Devellennes explains how Poparide differentiates itself from the competition. “Our platform is very transparent. It lets our members discuss trip details freely and then facilitates booking of seats online. Payments are made by card in advance, which increases reliability and ease-of-use of the service for both drivers and passengers. We are building a community based on the feedback we receive from our amazing members.”
The company aspires to become one of the most popular travel options in Canada. “Our ambition is to provide a shared, sustainable and reliable travel option while reducing our impact on the environment and helping Canada attain its goals set in the Paris Climate Agreement”, concludes Devellennes.
About Poparide
Poparide is a technology driven ridesharing platform based in Vancouver, BC, co-founded by Flo Devellennes and Luke Burden. Since launching in 2014 Poparide has helped drivers and passengers share over 3,000,000 kilometres. The company provides an online marketplace where drivers post empty seats for passengers to book, and monetizes by charging passengers a 15% service fee on each booking.
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For more information about Poparide or to arrange a media interview, please contact:
Yan Poirier
Québec partner
581 994 7110
yan@poparide.com