ViaVan is to bring its on-demand ride-sharing scheme to Milton Keynes in the UK, marking its fourth city launch.

Through the ViaVan app, passengers are seamlessly matched in real time with other riders travelling in the same direction, sharing their trip in a professionally-chauffeured Mercedes-Benz Vito Tourer

The scheme is the result of a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz Vans and US technology start-up Via that uses algorithms from Via to dynamically route Mercedes-Benz Vito Tourers, allowing passengers to seamlessly book a shared van through the ViaVan app.

Avis Budget Group is also involved in the scheme and will provide eight-seater vans for ViaVan’s Milton Keynes launch as well as a weekly mobile wash and clean service.

The launch of the scheme in Milton Keynes follows its debut in Amsterdam and London earlier this year and its partnership with Berlin’s public transit authority, BerlinerVerkehrsbetriebe (BVG).

“ViaVan was formed to reengineer urban transit in Europe,” said Chris Snyder, CEO of ViaVan. “Milton Keynes is an innovation-forward city and we’re delighted to launch this ground-breaking on-demand service, providing residents with a convenient, affordable, and congestion-reducing dynamic transportation alternative.”

Steve Hayes, head of transport at MK Council, added: “MK Council is very proactive towards transport innovation and working in partnership with innovative, commercial companies so ViaVan fits in perfectly with our aims to offer a wide range of travel options to everyone. Sharing journeys is something we fully support as one of our key objectives is to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce traffic growth so that MK remains easy and quick to travel around as it continues to grow rapidly.”