Smart Commute Privacy Statement

In this document, “Participating Municipalities” means the City of Toronto, City of Hamilton, The Regional Municipality of York, The Regional Municipality of Durham, The City of Greater Sudbury, the city of London and any municipality that, from time to time, is participating as a member municipality in the Smart Commute program. 

1. Collection: The Participating Municipalities and/or RideShark Corporation  (collectively “we” or “us”) gather various information about users of the Smart Commute program, including but not limited to the Smart Commute website (the “Website”) and the transportation mode matching application that is part of the Smart Commute program (the “App”) and available on that website (the Website and the App together, “Smart Commute”). This information includes: 
   1. personal information about You, provided through voluntary registration;
   2. personal information regarding Your use of Smart Commute, including but not limited to the identity of people who You are matched with by Smart Commute, and the content of any messages that You send to another person using Smart Commute;
   3. personal information, provided to us by You through any other method (including without limitation correspondence and discussions);
   4. personal information collected by us through click tracking in relation to Your use of Smart Commute, including the content You access;
   5. aggregated data, which tracks traffic to Smart Commute; and
   6. cookies, which are pieces of information transferred to Your computer hard drive for record keeping.

   The personal information collected will be held by us or on our behalf by such other agent as we may appoint from time to time. You further authorize us to collect personal information about You from any public source. RideShark Corporation will have access to all personal information collected in the App and Website for purposes related to management and administration of Smart Commute.  Each Participating Municipality will have access to all of Your personal information collected through Smart Commute if at any point You have a final travel destination located in that Participating Municipality for the purposes set out in this Privacy Statement.  

2. Social Media Integration: You may decide to integrate Your Smart Commute Account (“Account”) with a social media service. In connection with such integration, You authorize us to collect certain information about You that You have provided to the social media service, including Your profile information, as well as any information that You make publicly available on or through the social media service. By using these social media services to interact with Smart Commute, we are not given access to Your login credentials, user name, password, or any information You may provide directly to these applications. You are strongly advised to review the privacy policies of any third-party applications You use to interact with Smart Commute.
3. Location Information: Smart Commute will collect geo-location information, including Your commuting origin and destination, and will access and use the precise geo-location of Your mobile devices running the App. This location information is used to facilitate transportation mode matching on Smart Commute. The App will only access and use Your mobile device’s location information if You give the App permission through Your device settings or the App.
4. Payment Information: When you make or receive a payment through Smart Commute, we will collect Your credit card, debit card or banking information and other financial data. We do not store this payment information. We use a third-party payment processor (e.g., Stripe or PayPal, etc.) to process all payments. The use and storage of payment information is governed by the payment processor’s applicable terms of service and privacy policy.
5. Purposes: The personal information You provide will be used for the following purposes:
   1. verification of Your identity and assisting You in case You forget Your password or login details for use of Smart Commute;
   2. to allow You to use Smart Commute and to match You with potential transportation mode matching partners (“Rideshare Partners”);
   3. to provide You with further information about the Website or other services offered by us or which we consider may be of interest to You;
   4. to keep Smart Commute relevant and of interest to users;
   5. with Your prior consent, to respond to any requests for information made by Your employer;
   6. to investigate any complaints relating to misuse of Smart Commute or misconduct in relation to rideshares organized directly or indirectly through Smart Commute and to take any action we deem necessary to protect the safety of Yourself and others in relation to those complaints;
   7. to offer rewards and promotions;
   8. analysis in aggregate form (identifiable characteristics removed so that You will remain anonymous); and
   9. disclosure as may be required under applicable law, including but not limited to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Ontario), as amended or replaced from time to time.
6. Disclosure: You agree that the Participating Municipalities or RideShark Corporation may disclose the following:
   1. Your personal information to potential Rideshare Partners to enable You to contact each other as follows;
      1. first name;
      2. email;
      3. phone number(s);
      4. gender;
      5. whether or not You are a smoker;
      6. Your commuting origin, destination and schedule for the trip for which You have requested a rideshare.
   2. Your personal information about You to Your employer for purposes related to administering Smart Commute;
   3. Your personal information to Your employer where You have been misusing Smart Commute;
   4. Your personal information to third parties who are offering rewards and promotions where applicable;
   5. personal information about You to Your employer, the police or other government authorities where we believe it is reasonably necessary to protect Your safety or the safety of other people You have been ridesharing with, where these rideshares have been organized directly or indirectly through Smart Commute; 
   6. Your personal information to third parties when we believe, in good faith, that we are required to do so by law; and
   7. aggregate information and other information that does not personally identify You to such third parties as we may see fit.
7. Protection of Privacy Statement: With the exception of disclosures listed in section 6(a)-(g) above, participating Municipalities or Rideshark Corporation will not sell, lease, share or disclose personal information to private business, organizations or individuals unless required or permitted to do so by Applicable Law. 
8. Notice of Collection: Personal information is being collected from Smart Commute by the Participating Municipalities for the purposes set out in section 5 above. Questions regarding this collection may be addressed to the contact at the municipality in which a user’s employer is located, as set out below: 

   City of Toronto:  The Environment and Energy Division collects personal information under the legal authority of Section 136(c) of the City of Toronto Act, 2006, and the City of Toronto By-law Number 118-2020.  Questions about this collection can be directed to Smart Commute Program Manager, Environment and Energy Division, 2nd Floor, 55 John St., Toronto, Ontario M5V 3C6 or by telephone at 416-397-5746. 

   City of Hamilton:  Transportation Planning Section collects personal information under the legal authority of Section 227 of the Municipal Act, 2001. Questions about this collection can be directed to Program Manager Sustainable Mobility, Hamilton City Hall, 71 Main St W, Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5 or by telephone at 905546-2424 ext. 5129.

   The Regional Municipality of York:  The Transportation and Infrastructure Planning department collects personal information under the legal authority of Section 227 of the Municipal Act, 2001. Questions about this collection can be directed to Program Manager, Sustainable Mobility, York Region Administrative Centre, 17250 Yonge Street, Newmarket, ON L3Y 6Z1 or by telephone at 877464-9675 ext. 75051.

   The Regional Municipality of Durham Region:  This information is collected under the legal authority of Section 227 of the Municipal Act, 2001 for the purpose of administering the Smart Commute program in the Region of Durham. Questions about this collection should be forwarded to the Manager, Transportation Planning, Region of Durham at 605 Rossland Rd. E, Whitby ON, L1N 6A3 or 905-668-7711 or 1-800-372-1102.

   The Halton Municipalities: This information is collected under the legal authority of Section 227 of the Municipal Act, 2001,O. 2001, c. 25 for the purpose of administering the Smart Commute program. Questions about this collection may be directed to Sustainable Transportation Program Coordinator, Transportation and Engineering, Town of Oakville at 1225 Trafalgar Rd, Oakville, ON L6H 0H3 or by telephone at 905-845-6601 ext. 3306.

   The City of Greater Sudbury:  This information is collected under the legal authority of Section 227 of the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25  for the purpose of administering the Smart Commute program. Questions about this collection may be directed to the Active Transportation Coordinator, City of Greater Sudbury, PO Box 5000 Stn A, 200 Brady Street, Sudbury, Ontario, P3A 5P3 or by calling 705-674-4455 ext. 3648.

   The City of London: This information is collected under the legal authority of Section 227 of the Municipal Act, 2001,O. 2001, c. 25 for the purpose of administering the Smart Commute program. Questions about this collection may be directed to Manager, Energy and Climate Change, City of London, 300 Dufferin Ave., London, ON, N6B 1Z2, or by calling 519-661-2489 ext. 5204.

   Bruce County: This information is collected under the legal authority of Section 227 of the Municipal Act, 2001,O. 2001, c. 25 for the purpose of administering the Smart Commute program. Questions about this collection may be directed to the Clerk, County of Bruce, 30 Park Street, Walkerton, ON, N0G 2W0, or by calling 519-881-1291. 

9. Consequences of Non-Provision of Information: Failure to provide necessary personal information requested at the time of registration for use of Smart Commute may result in certain services not being available to You.
10. Security: We are committed to Your privacy and strive to protect the personal and confidential information of those who use Smart Commute. However, as no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information You transmit or receive through Smart Commute. These activities are conducted at Your own risk.
11. Retention of Your Information: If You want us to permanently delete Your personal information from our servers, You must delete Your Account. So long as Your Account remains active, we will preserve Your personal information. We will retain any and all personal information that we are required to retain under any Applicable Laws for the full duration of time required under those laws. We may also retain any anonymized and de-identified information and continue to use this information in accordance with this Privacy Statement.
12. Changes to this Privacy Statement: If we decide to make material changes to our Privacy Statement, we will notify You and other users by placing a notice on Smart Commute. You should periodically check Smart Commute for updates. By using Smart Commute after we have so posted notice of such modifications, alterations or updates You agree to be bound by such revised terms.
13. Access to and Changing Your Information: We respond to requests for access to Your personal information, and for rectification as necessary. Please contact us should You desire to make an update, correction or other change to Your personal information, and we will respond to Your request as quickly as possible. 

July 09, 2024