BC Transit Partners with Vancouver-Based Spare to Modernize handyDART Transportation Across 29 B.C. Communities

• New partnership to make handyDART trips easier to plan and manage for riders across B.C.
• Support for web and mobile handyDART booking and real-time trip tracking will be powered by Spare platform

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spare, a leading transit technology company and provider of accessible mobility systems for public transit agencies, today announced a partnership with BC Transit to deliver the first unified digital platform for handyDART transportation across the province. Spare will work with BC Transit to introduce a standardized model across the 28 transit systems with handyDART, giving riders from urban centers to rural towns the same access to booking tools and real-time trip information. Upon implementation of the system, individuals who rely on handyDART transit will be able to book and manage rides directly through a mobile app, without needing to call a reservations line.

“Standardizing an entire province’s accessible transit network is a major milestone,” said Kristoffer Vik Hansen, CEO and Co-founder of Spare. “We’re proud to support BC Transit in improving mobility for the people who depend on these services the most, including family and friends of our own team members. This project shows how thoughtful innovation can make public transit more equitable for everyone.”

A B.C.-based partnership that is breaking new ground

Founded in British Columbia, Spare has built its business working closely with public transit agencies and communities across the world. The company’s founders and many employees live and work in the same regions served by BC Transit, giving the team firsthand insight into the realities of delivering accessible transportation in large and geographically diverse jurisdictions. Spare’s platform is designed to support the unique needs of transit agencies and their riders, offering tools for trip coordination, service oversight and rider-facing digital options, while maintaining local control and governance. For BC Transit, the new system will provide additional data to help forecast demand, plan for the future and advocate for funding where it is needed most.

How the Spare platform supports riders and helps BC Transit meet its goals

Spare’s technology enables BC Transit to coordinate trips, track key operational metrics and manage service quality across 28 transit systems through a single interface. Its role-based access controls ensure transparency, privacy and secure information sharing among staff and local operators. By unifying its data and operations, BC Transit will be able to compare services across regions and optimize operations through modern technology, while improving reliability and rider experience.

This collaboration positions Spare as a national leader in modern paratransit technology and provides a blueprint for other provincial and statewide agencies seeking to unify fragmented systems across wide geographies.

About BC Transit

BC Transit is the provincial Crown agency charged with coordinating the delivery of public transportation across British Columbia, except for those areas serviced by TransLink (Metro Vancouver). More than 1.9 million British Columbians in over 130 communities across the province have access to BC Transit local and regional transit services. For more information, visit BCTransit.com.

About Spare

Vancouver-based Spare is the modern operations platform that helps government agencies deliver more reliable, efficient and community-focused mobility. Founded in British Columbia, Spare has deep roots in the province, with founders and team members who live and work in the communities they serve. That local perspective shapes how the company partners with agencies to improve access, reliability and rider experience across Canada.

Spare integrates transit operations with advanced asset management and maintenance tools to give agencies real-time visibility and proactive decision support with the flexibility to adapt services on the fly and manage costs in an economically sustainable way. By consolidating back-end operations into a single system, Spare helps agencies deliver safer fleets, lower costs, improve on-time performance and meet rising expectations for digital self-service, while supporting staff with tools that reduce manual work.

With major use cases across provinces, Spare supports accessible and innovative transit for Canadians from coast to coast. Spare works with transit agencies including Brampton Transit, Hamilton Street Railway (City of Hamilton), Medicine Hat Transit, Oakville Transit, Saint John Transit Commission, Saskatoon Transit, Winnipeg Transit and Milton Transit. Agencies rely on Spare to scale proven service models, including coordinated multimodal operations and sustainable same-day paratransit, strengthening mobility as a public service that connects people to work, healthcare and daily life.