January 06, 2023

A Ride Along with the only rideshare that treats its drivers as employees

Since dot.LA covered its launch two years ago, Santa Monica-based rideshare company Alto has hired 300 staff members to join its growing team of drivers. But unlike its competitors, Alto classifies every driver as a W-2 employee.

“They're not gig economy workers that show up whenever they feel,” general manager Sevag Konialian tells dot.LA, “they have hours that correlate with the schedule they signed up with.”

Applicants that are interested in joining the Alto family, as Konialian puts it, must fill out a form online with their desired schedule. Once the application is complete, an Alto member reaches out to the applicant for a remote interview. After the interview, the potential driver will receive a driver training course list that they must complete.

December 20, 2022

Ride-hailing startup offers W-2 employment alternative to app-based drivers

Rideshare startup Alto maintains a branded fleet, which is operated by its drivers who are W-2 employees.

Expansing ride-hailing startup Alto offers unique W-2 employment to drivers, marking a different approach from giants Uber and Lyft.

The 2018 startup launched in Dallas, but has since expanded to Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington D.C. and San Francisco.

March 12, 2022

New Ride-Hailing Service In Bay Area Takes Aim At Uber, Lyft

While Bay Area-based Uber and Lyft have dominated the rideshare industry, a new service launching in parts of the Bay Area hopes to poach not only passengers but drivers as well. The company is called Alto and just launched on the Peninsula. Just like Uber and Lyft – you use an app to call a car, but unlike those companies your driver won’t be a gig worker, but a full time employee with benefits. “We want to deliver benefits for our drivers. We think that’s important, but also, consistent steady hourly wages. You come in to work with Alto – you know what your pay is going to be,” said Adam Vanderpool, Director of Operations for Alto. This all comes after the millions poured into Proposition 22 in 2020 that allowed Uber, Lyft and the like to keep classifying drivers as contractors. Another change, there will be no more roulette as to what kind of vehicle pulls up. Alto owns a fleet of Buick Enclaves and the company said it would transition to all electric in 2023. “I think our customer base really cares about sustainability and I think that’s feedback we’ve got from the beginning,” Vanderpool told KPIX 5.

March 08, 2022

Ride-hailing startup Alto expands with Silicon Valley launch while obeying labor law fought by Uber and Lyft

An on-demand ride-hailing startup with a business model decidedly different from Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. is taking them on in their backyard. Alto launched service in Silicon Valley on Tuesday, making it the sixth U.S. market for the company that decided at its inception to differentiate itself by hiring drivers as employees instead of adopting the gig-economy model of treating them as independent contractors. That business model abides by California law, which Uber and Lyft have tried to subvert with a ballot initiative that was voted into law, but which the companies are now fighting to uphold after a judge declared it unconstitutional. Will Coleman, chief executive and co-founder of Dallas-based Alto, said in an interview with MarketWatch that the startup will start off mostly in Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Mateo and Burlingame with about 50 vehicles, for which it is hiring about 100 drivers. The company, which was founded in 2018, also operates fleets in its hometown of Dallas-Fort Worth, plus Houston, Miami, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. “We have big plans for expansion for the rest of the year,” Coleman said, adding that he expects Alto’s service to expand to other parts of Silicon Valley as demand grows.

March 08, 2022

Dallas-based rideshare service Alto expands into Silicon Valley

• Alto, the Dallas-based rideshare service that employs W-2 workers rather than contractors, is officially open for rides in Silicon Valley. The company launched in Dallas in 2018 and started offering rides in 2019. It aims to be what the pandemic has shown Uber and Lyft struggle to be — a consistent luxury car service for both riders and drivers. Alto now operates in Dallas, Palo Alto, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington, D.C. The company grew its revenue 700% annually in 2021. CEO Will Coleman said the expansion into the Silicon Valley region was as strategic as any other new city the company has launched to date. Having grown mostly during the pandemic, it’s looking at cities where mobility is recovering from pandemic lows. Alto also likes to make a splash in cities where regulations have targeted its gig economy rivals, Coleman said. The company made its entrance into California in 2020 while the state was debating a law that allowed ride-share companies to treat drivers as contractors, not employees. Expanding north into the region south of San Francisco this month was the logical next step, Coleman told The Dallas Morning News.

March 08, 2022

Ride-hailing company Alto is launching service in Silicon Valley. Here's what makes it different from Uber and Lyft.

Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. have a new app-based taxi competitor in Silicon Valley. Alto Experience Inc. launched its ride hailing service in the area Tuesday, the company announced in a press release. Unlike its bigger competitors, the Dallas company owns the vehicles used with its service and employs its drivers directly. It also hopes to distinguish itself by offering a premium and safe experience; its drivers have to undergo background checks, while its vehicles are frequently cleaned and maintained and have security cameras installed in them. Additionally, Alto is aiming to have the first company-owned fleet comprised solely of electric vehicles. It expects to be operating 3,000 such vehicles by next year. "It's an exciting time to bring a safe, elevated rideshare experience to Silicon Valley," Alto CEO Will Coleman said in the press release. "The future of ridesharing is electric fleets with employee drivers, and our expansion and continued growth into new markets are important steps in helping us bring this vision to life."

March 08, 2022

Ride-hailing company Alto is launching service in Silicon Valley. Here's what makes it different from Uber and Lyft.

Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. have a new app-based taxi competitor in Silicon Valley. Alto Experience Inc. launched its ride hailing service in the area Tuesday, the company announced in a press release. Unlike its bigger competitors, the Dallas company owns the vehicles used with its service and employs its drivers directly. It also hopes to distinguish itself by offering a premium and safe experience; its drivers have to undergo background checks, while its vehicles are frequently cleaned and maintained and have security cameras installed in them. Additionally, Alto is aiming to have the first company-owned fleet comprised solely of electric vehicles. It expects to be operating 3,000 such vehicles by next year. "It's an exciting time to bring a safe, elevated rideshare experience to Silicon Valley," Alto CEO Will Coleman said in the press release. "The future of ridesharing is electric fleets with employee drivers, and our expansion and continued growth into new markets are important steps in helping us bring this vision to life."

February 28, 2022

Young Workers Rake In Biggest Wage Gains in Tight Labor Market

Alto, a ride-sharing startup, has tried to sweeten the deal for a job that often goes to young workers: new car washers and detailers get a $400 signing bonus if they stay for more than 30 days.“Car-washing can be a lot of moving, outdoors, in the summertime—we need to find the right [candidate] who can do that job,” said Winston Wright, Alto’s Houston general manager. Other incentives kick in later: After six months, employees can qualify for a 401(k) plan, and Alto tries to show young employees pathways to promotions to jobs like delivery supervisor. “When someone can go somewhere else for 50 cents more and there’s not a lot of loyalty, it has paid dividends for us” to provide benefits and offer opportunities for advancement, Mr. Wright said.

February 18, 2022

Ride-hailing co. plans bigger operations center, more cars in Houston

After expanding into Houston in 2020, Dallas-based on-demand ride company Alto is working to create a larger presence in the Bayou City market.The ride-hailing company plans to move into a larger operations center within the next six months, said Winston Wright, general manager for Alto's Houston operations. An expanded facility will allow Alto to accommodate more cars in its fleet and more drivers to serve the massive metro area.Alto is currently a tenant in a shared office building near the intersection of the 610 Loop and T.C. Jester Boulevard. The company's new operations center will have 4 acres of space to park cars and expand its facilities in the future, Wright said.The company saw ridership grow about 500% in the Houston area during 2021, and it wants to grow even more during the remainder of 2022.

February 17, 2022

Alto Offers Elevated Alternative To Uber And Lyft Ridesharing

In the business world, regulation has limited the number of monopolies. But in the rideshare business, Uber and Lyft are a duopoly. Uber accounts for 69% of the market, Lyft 30%.

Nonetheless, the growing industry remains a tempting target for competitors like Alto. Currently a $61 billion business worldwide, ride hailing is projected to grow to $220 billion by 2025.

That is where Alto, a ride hailing service started in 2018, comes in. Based in Dallas, Alto says it is the first ride-hailing provider to hire W-2 employee drivers. Each must pass background checks and get days of training. Alto also manages its own fleet of company-owned “elevated SUVs,” which Alto currently buys from General Motors and Volkswagen.

The service is now available in Dallas, Houston, Miami, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. Alto also recently launched in the South Bay of SF and Silicon Valley. A spokesperson described Alto pricing as “midway between UberX and UberBlack.”

January 03, 2022

Rideshare 2.0: Uber, Lyft rivals roll out EVs and employee drivers

Startups like Alto, Revel and Kaptyn are positioning themselves as Rideshare 2.0. — alternatives to Uber and Lyft that use employees rather than gig workers as drivers and put fleets of company-owned cars on the road.

Why it matters: These companies' vertically integrated business models mean they can roll out electric fleets more quickly than the current market leaders, whose pledges to go electric depend on persuading gig drivers to upgrade their personal cars to EVs.

• The newcomers also rely on a whiff of cachet: Alto, for example, which plans an all-electric fleet by the end of 2023, uses a subscription model and touts "5-Star Vehicles + 5-Star Experiences."
• "Our drivers are employees, not contractors, which benefits them — and you," Alto boasts.