There are many Detroiters who don't have access to transportation, which means they don't have access to grocery stores.
A new program called "Cart" is trying to bridge the gap - by providing transportation to folks so they can shop for the things they need!
"When people don't have access to transportation, they might shop at their gas station or corner store and a lot of the times, those stores don't always have the freshest food and so we just want to provide access to a store with a lot of options," said CEO of Cart, Stacey Matlen.
Matlen graduated from the University of Michigan with a Masters of Public Health more than six months ago.
During her time there, she took part in an innovation competition and she came up with the concept of Cart, something she is now trying out in the real world.
She teamed up with Lyft to take customers to a grocery store for a flat rate of $20 round trip.
But, the customer only pays half of that.
They rolled out with a pilot program with Meijer, so the store chips in $10.
"Using rideshare as a tool for grocery stores to use to actually bring new people into their stores. And this way they get access to new customer base who typically wouldn't have shopped at that store and customers have access to new found, affordable food."
Customers from more than 25 Detroit zip codes can order a ride on cartrides.com and a Lyft driver will come to their home and take them to one of the two participating Meijer's in Detroit.
One is on 8 Mile, the other on Grand River.
After they shop, they'll get home using another Lyft ride.
Which is better than waiting for a bus.
"We've talked to people who they can spend up to three hours waiting for a bus, with different transfers and everything, each way, and so if you have frozen items that's definitely not a feasible thing."
The pilot program continues until March 22.
