Routes and Jobs Part 2: Tackling Memphis’ Transit Deserts with Tech and Grit

You’ve landed the job. The shift starts early, the pay is decent, and the opportunity feels like a step forward. But there’s one problem: getting there. The bus schedule doesn’t line up. Rideshare costs eat into your paycheck. And missing one connection could mean missing the whole shift. For many Memphians, transportation isn’t just a logistical hurdle but the difference between stability and struggle.

That’s the reality Routes and Jobs were built to change.

Founded by a team with lived experience, Routes and Jobs is a Memphis-born workforce rideshare platform tailored to shift-based workers in transit deserts. Tech Scene Media sat down with the team to unpack their journey. From hackathon spark to community-powered solution.

Tech Scene Media: How did each founder’s background contribute to the vision and development of Routes and Jobs?

Routes and Jobs: Our team came together with different lived experiences but a shared urgency around the same problem. Some of us know firsthand what it means to miss a shift because the bus never showed, or to spend a third of a paycheck on rideshare just to keep a job. Others brought backgrounds in logistics, finance, and community organizing, which gave us the tools to translate those experiences into a real solution. That mix of personal struggle and professional skills shaped Routes and Jobs into both a practical platform and a movement grounded in lived reality.

Tech Scene Media: How has Memphis shaped your startup journey, both in terms of challenges and support?

Routes and Jobs: Memphis is both our proving ground and our motivation. The city has unique challenges: disconnected transit, concentrated job hubs far from where many workers live, and high costs of mobility. But it’s also a place where community runs deep, and people rally behind ideas that create real impact. The support from local organizations like Epicenter, BDPA, CodeCrew, MATA, mentors, and peers has been invaluable. Memphis has forced us to think creatively and stay grounded in practical solutions that work here, and by extension, could work in other cities like ours.

Tech Scene Media: What were the biggest logistical or technical challenges in building a rideshare platform tailored to shift-based work?

Routes and Jobs: Shift work is predictable by nature but layered, with different start times, late-night hours, and locations often outside traditional transit routes. The biggest challenge was creating a system flexible enough to handle that variability, while still being reliable and cost-effective. On the technical side, we had to design dynamic routing algorithms. Balancing affordability with operational sustainability was/is another major challenge, but one we were committed to solving.

Tech Scene Media: How do you balance tech development with community engagement and trust-building?

Routes and Jobs: For us, tech is the tool, not the answer. The platform has to work, but trust is what makes people actually use it. We spend just as much time listening to riders and employers as we do writing code. Community input shapes our design choices, and our transparency when things don’t go perfectly builds credibility. Balancing the two means never treating them as separate tracks; community engagement is part of development, and development is part of community building.

Tech Scene Media: How did you navigate early-stage funding, partnerships, or skepticism from stakeholders?

Routes and Jobs: Skepticism was unavoidable; people hear “rideshare startup” and immediately think of giants like Uber or Lyft. Our challenge is to show we weren’t trying to copy them but to fill a gap they’ll never touch: connecting workers in transit deserts to their shifts. We lean on partnerships with local accelerators, employers, and organizations that believe in our mission, and we are transparent about our challenges and wins. On funding, we’re starting small, focusing on pilot budgets, grants, and community partnerships. We believe proving impact matters more than flashy numbers. By showing results step by step, we believe we can turn skeptics into supporters.

Tech Scene Media: What local resources, accelerators, or mentors have been most impactful?

Routes and Jobs: We’ve been fortunate to be part of Memphis’ growing innovation ecosystem. Programs like Epicenter’s accelerators, the Innovate Xcelerate Hackathon, and support from organizations like CodeCrew and The BDPA have given us both resources and a platform to grow. Thought partners from transit leaders like Jackson McNeil, to community advocates like Ron Brooks, and Anton Mack, who opened doors and shared hard truths, have helped shape our path. The mix of technical guidance, community feedback, and industry insight has been invaluable at every stage.

Tech Scene Media: Can you share a moment when the team faced a major setback, and how you overcame it?

Routes and Jobs: One of our biggest realizations was that validation in the early days, like winning the hackathon where our team first came together, was only the starting point. We quickly learned that what comes next isn’t a byproduct of pitch competitions, but vision made manifest through grit and grind: building, piloting, failing in real-world scenarios, pivoting, and persevering. The only way to overcome that uncertainty is through action. And while data and insights guide us, true clarity only comes when you put ideas into practice. You can’t fear the unknown; you’ve got to move through it.

Tech Scene Media: What advice would you give to other founders trying to innovate in underserved markets?

Routes and Jobs: Lead with empathy, not assumptions. Listen deeply to the people you’re building for and let their experiences shape your solution. Be prepared for longer timelines and unexpected hurdles, but also understand that solving real problems builds a kind of loyalty and impact that flashy ideas can’t. Innovation in underserved markets isn’t just about creating a product; it’s about building trust, proving value, and showing up consistently.

Explore the founders, tools, and big ideas shaping our city’s startup scene. One bold build at a time.

🚗 Read Part 1 of the Routes and Jobs series to explore how one Memphis-born team is turning missed shifts into mobility solutions.

✈️ Read Part 1 of the Tandem Trips series to check out how this Memphis-based crew reimagining how multi-person, multi-location travel can feel effortless.