Find a Ride Phase 2 - Request for Information (RFI)

March 12, 2025

Hopelink's One-Call/One-Click Project Seeks Your Input by April 4, 2025.

Phase 2 Diagram. Click link for Full Text and PDF.

Project Overview


The Mobility Management team at Hopelink, in collaboration with the King County Mobility Coalition, is developing a system to improve the new rider intake, eligibility determination, and enrollment verification processes for specialized transportation services in the Puget Sound Area. As they currently exist, these processes can be a significant barrier to riders seeking services for the first time, highly manual and labor-intensive for the agencies providing the transportation services, and difficult to coordinate at a regional level because processes are unique to each agency.

 

To improve these processes, Hopelink intends to implement a system that agencies in the region may use to:

  • Collect new rider intakes electronically via a secure web-based application, with easy collection of any needed documentation,
  • Carry out streamlined eligibility determinations, with straightforward and adaptable workflows for both riders and agency staff, and
  • Securely store eligibility information in a centralized database for use by riders, agency staff and Hopelink’s recently developed Find a Ride's trip planner. As the system matures, it could be made available to authorized systems used by healthcare providers, social services caseworkers, and information and referral specialists (e.g., 211) to enable closed-loop referrals for transportation services.

 

To reduce risk and cost, and to maximize the opportunity for integration with systems in adjacent domains such as healthcare, social services, and information and referral, Hopelink is placing a high priority on the final system using open standards, publicly documented application programming interfaces (APIs), and existing software tools that are in wide use outside the public transportation sector.

 

Additional information on this project is available at the project website, including our Phase 2 announcement.


Hopelink seeks information in the following areas:

 

Similar efforts:  information and points of contact about other projects, past, present, or planned, that have similar designs or goals. This includes:

  • Examples of data or technology integrations between specialized transportation and healthcare, social services, information and referral entities, or sources of documentation (e.g., login.gov or the Veterans Administration).
  • Measures of success and return on investment for riders, providers of specialized transportation, and adjacent domains.


Approaches to data security: information about approaches and lessons learned regarding securely collecting and storing personally identifiable information (PII) about riders in a system that will be managed by Hopelink and used by riders and multiple small transportation providers. This includes information about vendor selection and oversight, identity management, code reviews, third party testing, and information security frameworks in a multi-organizational context.


Interested vendors:  If you represent a technology vendor or know of a vendor with interest in responding to a forthcoming request for proposals, please reply with information about relevant solutions; experience with applying HIPAA- and HITRUST-level data security to design, development, and internal processes; and a point of contact.

 

Please respond to FindARide@hopelink.org by Friday, April 4, 2025. Hopelink values your time and input. While comprehensive information is welcome, concise and direct answers are equally valued.

 

If you have any questions regarding this RFI or require the RFI in another format for improved accessibility please contact FindARide@hopelink.org.

Mobility News

By Lyn McCarthy June 8, 2026
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By Grace Georgitsis May 21, 2026
What is Find a Ride Phase 2? Hopelink Mobility is currently developing the Phase 2 of our One-Call/One-Click program, Find a Ride . Find a Ride already serves as a comprehensive database of transit and specialized transportation services across King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, along with a trip planner that incorporates those services. In Phase 2, we plan to expand this program by creating a way for Find a Ride users to check their eligibility for several of these services at once. To learn more about Find a Ride Phase 2, read the Find a Ride Phase 2 Readiness blog post or this document explaining the project! Hack for Social Impact Hack for Social Impact is, in their own words, “A 501(c)(3) tech non-profit organization dedicated to solving real-world challenges by connecting engineers and data scientists with non-profits, NGOs, and civic organizations.” Their flagship event is an annual hackathon where nonprofits bring live technology problems for participants to tackle. In April 2026, Hack for Social Impact hosted a hackathon in Seattle in partnership with the Women in Tech Regatta . Hopelink brought Find a Ride Phase 2 as a challenge for the participants, asking them to find a way to streamline eligibility determination processes and applications for transportation services in the Puget Sound Region. More details on this challenge, and our vision for Phase 2, can be find in the Find a Ride “Hack-Pack.” Outputs: Two teams took on the Find a Ride Phase 2 challenge and dedicated several hours to reimagining how people across the Puget Sound region enroll in specialized transportation services. Each took their own unique approach to developing a framework for Phase 2. Hopelink Team - This team focused on the rider experience from intake to approval. Their solution centers on a single application that instantly shows users which services they qualify for, complete with match scores and plain-language explanations for any services they don't qualify for. Key features include: Instant eligibility checking with a match score for each available service One centralized application submitted to individual services for review Upfront document requirements so riders know what they need before they apply Admin dashboard for Hopelink staff to manage vendors, track applications, and access data insights — such as why users declined certain services Client-side application tracker for services with longer approval timelines RideReady Team – This team took a bigger-picture approach, tackling the fragmentation across the nonprofit rideshare landscape. Rather than improving one intake flow, they proposed a statewide verification platform — verify your eligibility once with Hopelink, then use that credential to access dozens of partner organizations, much like logging into a website with your Google account. Key features include: "Verify once, use everywhere" — a single sign-on model compatible with partner rideshare organizations across Washington state Multi-language support — 6 languages available on the web interface, and 57 via a built-in voice chat assistant Voice chat assistant designed for accessibility, particularly for elderly riders and non-English speakers Results: The RideReady team won the Hackathon with their vision of Find a Ride Phase 2! Click here to see the site that they created. This site is a prototype and is meant to serve as proof of concept. The Find a Ride team will be taking insights into consideration from both projects as we develop Phase 2 but will ultimately continue to prioritize input from our partners. What made this hackathon so valuable wasn't just the quality of individual solutions — it was seeing two different teams independently confirm that the same core problems need solving: too much repeated data entry, unclear eligibility, and barriers that make accessing transportation harder than it needs to be. The ideas these teams prototyped, along with feedback from our dedicated partners, will inform how we shape Find a Ride Phase 2. We're grateful to Hack for Social Impact, the Women in Tech Regatta, and every participant who brought their expertise to this challenge. Stay tuned for more updates as Phase 2 continues to take shape!  To learn more about Find a Ride Phase 2, read the Find a Ride Phase 2 Readiness blog post on the KCMobility website or join us at a Find a Ride Advisory meeting! For an invite, reach out to Grace Georgitsis at ggeorgitsis@hopelink.org, or by phone at 425-625-6836.
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