Camden NJ rolls out new on-demand public transport shuttle vans citywide

t’s been five years since Tameeka Mason has driven a car. The North Camden mother has a driver’s license but doesn’t feel comfortable on the road.

For years, Mason has cobbled together bus rides to go grocery shopping, travel for work, and drop off her son for school events.

But for the past month, Mason has been a frequent rider of a new public transit program, an on-demand shuttle van service known as Camden Loop.

She books a ride on her smartphone, then walks to a virtual bus stop. The mobile app created by technology startup Via leverages an algorithm to match her with fellow riders headed in the same direction and drops her off within 100 feet of her destination.