VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 2, 2026--
Spare, a leading transit technology company and provider of accessible mobility systems for public transit agencies, today announced a new partnership with TransLink to modernize HandyDART, Metro Vancouver’s door-to-door accessible transit service, which provides over 1.2 million trips every year. By working with Spare, TransLink will replace decades-old legacy systems with modern, rider-centric technology designed to streamline the complexity of paratransit operations at metropolitan scale. Once fully implemented, HandyDART riders will be able to book trips online, track their vehicle in real time, receive digital service updates and manage their transportation more independently without relying exclusively on phone-based reservations. For TransLink, the new system provides real-time operational visibility across the HandyDART network, enabling proactive service management, dynamic route optimization and improved performance oversight across the region.
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“By partnering with Spare, we will bring HandyDART into the digital age by giving customers access to online bookings, real-time vehicle locations, and smartphone updates,” says TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn. “HandyDART is more than a service – it’s a lifeline for thousands of people across Metro Vancouver and we are committed to strengthening the service for riders through our Customer-First Plan.”
Putting control, visibility and reliability in riders’ hands
HandyDART serves thousands of Metro Vancouver residents who are unable to independently use the conventional transit system. By introducing digital self-service tools alongside improved operational intelligence, TransLink is reducing uncertainty for riders while easing pressure on call centers and frontline staff.
For riders, the new digital platform will deliver 24/7 online trip booking, real-time “Where’s My Ride” tracking and clearer communication about service updates. For caregivers and families, it will provide greater confidence and transparency around trip timing and reliability.
Through Spare, TransLink will have comprehensive online dashboards to monitor service quality, manage contracts and identify potential issues before they affect riders, shifting operations from reactive problem solving to proactive service management.
TransLink is Metro Vancouver’s regional transportation authority and the first in North America with responsibility for public transit planning, financing, and management, as well as oversight of major regional roads and bridges. HandyDART is TransLink’s door-to-door custom transit service for customers who are unable to independently use the conventional transit system. It’s a vital service that connects people to healthcare, work, post-secondary education, errands, and opportunities to stay connected with family and friends.
How the Spare platform supports HandyDART at metropolitan scale
Spare’s platform replaces fragmented legacy systems with a single, integrated system that supports the full lifecycle of paratransit service delivery from rider registration and booking to dispatch, routing and performance reporting.
Key capabilities include:
Together, these capabilities will help TransLink improve on-time performance and build a scalable foundation for future service expansion.
“Every HandyDART trip represents someone’s independence and many of us at Spare have family members, friends and neighbours who rely on these services right here in Metro Vancouver,” says Kristoffer Vik Hansen, CEO and Co-founder of Spare. “With digital tools that let riders book trips independently and know when their vehicle is arriving, people gain greater confidence getting to work, medical appointments and the places that matter in their daily lives. Behind the scenes, our technology is built for the real operational complexity of paratransit at scale, giving TransLink the real-time insight it needs to manage service proactively and reliably.”
As an innovator in bringing multimodal travel options to paratransit, TransLink is combining traditional door-to-door service with transit integration and on-demand elements to modernize paratransit services while balancing rider expectations, operational complexity and cost discipline. This approach offers a unique blueprint for other major metropolitan transit agencies across Canada and the United States looking to enhance accessibility without compromising service quality.
About Spare
Vancouver-based Spare is the modern operations platform that helps government agencies deliver more reliable, efficient and community-focused mobility. Founded in British Columbia, Spare has deep roots in the province, with founders and team members who live and work in the communities they serve. That local perspective shapes how the company partners with agencies to improve access, reliability and rider experience across Canada. Spare integrates transit operations with advanced asset management and maintenance tools to give agencies real-time visibility and proactive decision support with the flexibility to adapt services on the fly and manage costs in an economically sustainable way. By consolidating back-end operations into a single system, Spare helps agencies deliver safer fleets, lower costs, improve on-time performance and meet rising expectations for digital self-service while supporting staff with tools that reduce manual work. With major use cases across provinces, Spare supports accessible and innovative transit for Canadians from coast to coast. Spare works with transit agencies including Brampton Transit, Hamilton Street Railway (City of Hamilton), Medicine Hat Transit, Oakville Transit, Saint John Transit Commission, Saskatoon Transit, Winnipeg Transit and Milton Transit. Agencies rely on Spare to scale proven service models, including coordinated multimodal operations and sustainable same-day paratransit, strengthening mobility as a public service that connects people to work, healthcare and daily life.
HandyDART serves thousands of Metro Vancouver residents who are unable to independently use the conventional transit system. By working with Spare, TransLink will replace decades-old legacy systems with modern, rider-centric technology designed to streamline the complexity of paratransit operations at metropolitan scale.
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A grandmother and her 5-year-old grandson burned to death in Gaza when their tent caught fire while cooking, as thousands of Palestinians endure colder weather in makeshift housing.
The nylon tent in Yarmouk caught fire Thursday night while a meal was being prepared, a neighbor said. A hospital official said that two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli gunfire on Friday in Gaza.
The shaky 12-week-old ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group has largely ended large-scale Israeli bombardment of Gaza. But Palestinians are still being killed by Israeli forces, especially along the so-called Yellow Line that delineates areas under Israeli control.
On Friday, American actor and film producer Angelina Jolie visited the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
Over the past few weeks, cold winter rains have repeatedly lashed the sprawling tent cities, causing flooding, turning Gaza’s dirt roads into mud and causing damaged buildings to collapse.
Aid groups say not enough shelter materials are getting into Gaza during the truce. Figures recently released by Israel’s military suggest it hasn’t met the ceasefire stipulation of allowing 600 trucks of aid into Gaza a day, though Israel disputes that finding.
Israel has said throughout the war that Hamas was siphoning off aid supplies, preventing the population in Gaza from receiving them. Last month, the World Food Program said that there have been “notable improvements” in food security in Gaza since the ceasefire.
Palestinians have long called for mobile homes and caravans to be allowed in to protect them against living in impractical and worn out tents.
Jolie met with members of the Red Crescent on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing and then visited a hospital in the nearby city of Arish to speak with Palestinian patients on Friday, according to Egyptian officials.
Her visit sought to raise support for the displaced and humanitarian workers in the crises in Gaza as well as in Sudan, Jolie's team said in a statement.
“What needs to happen is clear: the ceasefire must hold, and access must be sustained, safe and urgently scaled up so that aid, fuel and critical medical supplies can move quickly and consistently, at the volume required,” Jolie said about Gaza.
Reopening the crossing, which would allow Palestinians to leave Gaza — especially the ill and wounded who could get specialized care unavailable in the territory — has been contentious. Israel has said that it will only allow Palestinians to exit Gaza, not enter, until militants in Gaza return all the hostages they took in the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war. The remains of one hostage are still in Gaza.
Israel also says Palestinians wanting to leave Gaza will have to get Israeli and Egyptian security approval. Egypt, meanwhile, says it wants the crossing immediately opened in both directions, so Palestinians in Egypt can enter Gaza. That’s a position rooted in Egypt’s vehement opposition to Palestinian refugees permanently resettling in the country.
For more than two decades until 2022, Jolie was a special envoy to the U.N. refugee agency.
On Friday, the foreign ministers of Arab and Muslim countries, including Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, expressed concern about Gaza's humanitarian situation.
The situation has been “compounded by the continued lack of sufficient humanitarian access, acute shortages of essential life-saving supplies, and the slow pace of the entry of essential materials," according to the joint statement.
The Palestinian death toll from the war is at least 71,271, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians in its count. The Israel-Hamas war began with the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
On Friday, two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli gunfire in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, a hospital official said. Israel's military provided no immediate information on the report.
Meanwhile, Israel continues operating in the occupied West Bank.
On Friday, the Palestinian Prisoners media office said that Israel carried out numerous raids across the territory, including the major cities of Ramallah and Hebron. Nearly 50 people were detained, following the arrest of at least 50 other Palestinians on Thursday, most of those in the Ramallah area.
Israel's military said there were arrests made of people “involved in terrorist activity." Last week, a Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel, killing both of them, police said.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says that Israel has arrested 7,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem this year, and 21,000 since the war began. The number arrested from Gaza isn't made public by Israel.
Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Fatima Abu al-Bayd inspects what remains of her mother's tent after her mother, Amal Abu Al-Khair, and grandchild, Saud, were killed when it caught fire overnight at the Yarmouk displacement camp in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
CORRECTS BYLINE TO EMAD ELGEBALY - American actor and film producer Angelina Jolie, front left, greets Red Crecent workers during her visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emad Elgebaly)
Magdi Abu Al-Khair bids farewell to his mother Amal Abu Al-Khair at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, after she and her grandchild Saud were killed when their tent caught fire overnight at the Yarmouk displacement camp. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
American actor and film producer Angelina Jolie, front left, greets Red Crecent workers during her visit to the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)
The bodies of Amal Abu Al-Khair and her grandchild, Saud, are transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after they were killed when their tent caught fire overnight at the Yarmouk displacement camp, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Fatima Abu al-Bayd inspects what remains of her mother's tent after her mother, Amal Abu Al-Khair, and grandchild, Saud, were killed when it caught fire overnight at the Yarmouk displacement camp in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Fatima Abu al-Bayd inspects what remains of her mother's tent after her mother, Amal Abu Al-Khair, and grandchild, Saud, were killed when it caught fire overnight at the Yarmouk displacement camp in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Magdi Abu Al-Khair bids farewell to his mother, Amal Abu Al-Khair, after she and her grandchild, Saud, were killed when their tent caught fire overnight at the Yarmouk displacement camp, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
