COLUMBIA, S.C. — A new ride-sharing app is launching in Columbia by a South Carolina native.
The app HOPIN is working to make safety and inclusion a bigger priority in the ride-sharing field.
“Everyone should feel safe- regardless of your age, regardless of your race, regardless of your zip-code," says creator and CEO of HOPIN Ron McKnight. He hopes his app will influence larger companies like Lyft and Uber to follow his lead in inclusivity and safety.
“HOPIN is a rideshare app that is designed to get people from point A to point B," McKnight explains, "of course we accept credit cards, bank-issued debit cards, but we also – now that it’s FDIC secured – prepaid cards are also accepted as well.”
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in 2019 5.4% of households- around 7.1 million people- were unbanked, “Those are really and truly disparaging numbers to me, and they also come from mainly lower income households as well as people of color black, brown and yellow.”
Most registered prepaid cards are also insured by the FDIC, "So your dollars are secured as the rider as well as the dollars are secured for the driver and company as well.”
Safety is also a top priority. One feature will let women pick a female driver and vice versa. “If you feel comfortable having someone of your own gender picking you up and driving you around, I feel comfortable," McKnight says.
There is also an SOS feature that will give you an option to notify up to three people of your location, driver details and car description.
McKnight also told us prices will be $1-$1.25 lower than the larger companies.
He also assured there will be no surge pricing in the first two years to keep prices low for riders and give drivers an opportunity to make more money.
He hopes to launch in Columbia and then expand to the southeast and eventually take it nationwide.
The app that is currently recruiting drivers with their driver app and hopes to launch their ride-share app next month.