Why every Glide ride is free — and how the community keeps it that way

Ask most people what a ride costs and they'll think of the fare. For a lot of Glide riders, the real cost is bigger than that: the appointment rescheduled because the ride fell through, the outing skipped because a round trip was a week's worth of small favors owed.

So we built Glide around a simple rule: the rider never pays. Not a fare, not a surge multiplier, not a tip. Here's how that actually works.

The community covers the ride

Glide runs on contributions. People who believe that getting around shouldn't depend on your age, your mobility, or your bank balance chip in — and that support goes directly to putting free rides on the road for adults 65 and over and people with disabilities.

Because there's no fare in the middle, there's no incentive to cut corners on the parts that matter: every trip is a self-driving Tesla with a vetted safety operator on board, there to help with boarding, keep an eye on the road, and make sure each rider gets where they're going safely.

You can see exactly where it goes

We don't ask anyone to take our word for it. Every contribution shows up on our live community board — the rides given, the people moved, the community keeping it all running. Radical transparency is the trust we're built on.

How to help keep it free

• Contribute — any amount keeps rides free, and you'll find your impact on the community board.
• Spread the word — tell someone who could use a ride, or someone who'd want to help give one.
• Drive with us — become a safety operator and put your time behind the wheel toward your community.

Free rides, funded in the open, for the people who need them most. That's the whole idea — and it only works because of people like you.