Since 2018, Unified Potential has connected riders and drivers across Central Virginia using the MoveUP platform. Now the largest TANF transit provider in the Commonwealth, we are living proof of concept that reliable, on-demand transportation is essential infrastructure for health and economic mobility.
A 2014 landmark study found commute time is the single strongest predictor of upward mobility.
Picture someone working two jobs who doesn't have 85 minutes to spare for a 20-minute appointment. She misses it. Her prescription goes unfilled. Her condition worsens — and eventually costs her the job she was trying to protect in the first place.
This is not a failure of willpower. It is a failure of infrastructure. Fixed-route systems were designed for people with flexible schedules, not for those whose lives run on tight margins. The solution is not a better bus. It is transportation designed around real lives — and it is already operating.
The health of an individual depends far more on the health of the community they live in than on the delivery of healthcare itself. When transportation fails, everything downstream fails with it — appointments, jobs, prescriptions, recovery programs, and ultimately the economic and physical health of the community.
"The time people spend commuting to work is among the strongest factors predicting a child's chances of escaping poverty."
"My work has always centered on accurate data. That data shows that a person’s ability to get where they need to go is more important for their health than even the most advanced treatment."
Unified Potential runs on the MoveUP coordination platform. A single request from a rider or agency is made visible to every suitable provider — medical transport, taxi, nonprofit fleet, even volunteers — simultaneously.
This gives every provider an opportunity to serve that rider, and gives the rider the greatest chance of getting where they need to go. No siloed dispatch. No sequential calling. No rider left waiting while capacity sits unused elsewhere in the community.
This is the operating model that has made Unified Potential Virginia’s largest nonprofit TANF transit provider.
Unified Potential was built as a real-world demonstration that transportation can be treated as essential health infrastructure — without waiting for new fleets or large public subsidies. The model is operating, self-sustaining on service revenue, and ready to be expanded through health systems, agencies, and communities that want to solve the same problem.
If your organization is exploring how to address transportation as a health-related social need, I would welcome a conversation.