Lyft And Atlanta Partner To Fight Food Deserts

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Lyft and Atlanta will team up to help give families in food deserts access to groceries. / GPB

Lyft and the city of Atlanta have announced a partnership to fight food deserts.

As part of a six-month pilot program, the rideshare company will provide transportation to certain grocery stores for 300 families living in food deserts. The program kicks off May 1. 

Each family will get up to eight rides a month for a flat fee of $2 on rides that would normally cost up to $10. Any rides that costs more than $10, Lyft will subsidize the first $10 and the rider will pay the difference. 

According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than a third of Atlanta is considered a food desert. And a quarter of the city’s resident live more than a half a mile away from a place with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Lyft announced it will work with local organizations to determine which families have the highest need.

“We want to help give families access to the healthy foods they need by easing the burden of traveling to food retailers,” the company’s southeast General Manager Sam Bond said in a press release.  “We’re committed to working towards a future in which Atlanta residents can fully overcome these barriers.”

The city's program will be modeled after a similar effort in Washington, D.C. It’s also a broader effort by Atlanta to increase residents’ access to fresh food.