Ridesharing in the Niagara region is about to grow a bit larger.

While residents continue to have the choice of taxi companies and the popular option of Uber, one Niagara native is putting forth a more affordable option.

Walid Al Hilaly, the founder of Zoom ridesharing, can finally have his team take to the roads with the company being fully insured for its drivers and passengers. Zoom has partnered with Northbridge Insurance on a plan that will cover 24 drivers. However, Al Hilaly hopes this is just the start.

“In Canada the ridesharing industry is new,” said Al Hilaly. He elaborated by saying insurance companies are welcoming the larger ridesharing companies but make it difficult for the startups. “We have the potential to be big guys.”

The biggest obstacle was explaining to insurance companies that there is a need for ridesharing in Niagara, and Al Hilaly has accomplished that with Northbridge.

Al Hilaly started ridesharing in 2012 when he worked for a local Pizza Pizza and would get requests to drive people around the region when on delivery. He saw the market for a ridesharing company within Niagara, so he stepped away from Brock University after two years in the computer science program and put his full attention to Zoom.

The company originally started operating in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, but now is available in all 12 municipalities in the region.

Officially being licensed and insured, the next step is to bring on 24 drivers and market the Zoom app. It’s also important to Al Hilaly that people understand the difference between Zoom and the other options available.

“Affordability, that’s how we’ve got this far,” he said. “We are trying to be 30 to 40 per cent more affordable than our competitors.”

Not only is Zoom available through its app, people can book through their website zoom.cab and the hope is to one day have a call centre available.