Shuttle Central
YC W22Cancún, MX · Founded 2019 · 28 employees · Hiring · 4 known investors
Shuttle Central provides airport and ground transportation booking services across Mexico, the Caribbean, USA, and Latin America, offering instant confirmation and 24/7 customer support.
Also known as Shuttle Central
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W22)
Shuttle Central was founded in 2019 by Barsi Luna, Jorge De Cordova, and Luis Uicab.
Investors · 4
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Shuttle Central is a Cancún, Mexico-based travel technology company that provides an API and booking engine allowing travel companies to sell ground transportation online, including airport shuttles, drivers by the hour and car rental. The company positions the product as a way for partners to increase revenue by roughly 15-20% per transaction on transportation bookings, and describes integration options designed to embed shuttle booking into partners' existing e-commerce platforms and websites.
Alongside the B2B platform, Shuttle Central operates a consumer-facing booking site covering airport transfers in Mexico, the Caribbean, the United States and Latin America, advertising more than 100 destinations including Cancún, Los Cabos, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco, Las Vegas, Miami, Montego Bay, Nassau and Punta Cana. Booking features include real-time flight monitoring, online reservation management, secure payment, instant confirmation, web check-in and 24/7 support, with add-ons such as car seats and round-trip or point-to-point service.
Beyond bookings, the company markets operator-facing tooling: analytics intended to help transportation providers understand their customer base, optimize pricing and manage fleets, framed around the digitalization of last-mile ground transportation companies.
Founding story
Founded in 2019 by Barsi Luna, Jorge De Cordova and Luis Uicab. De Cordova entered tourism to help fund his college studies in advertising and communications, met Luna at his first job in the industry, and the two founded Shuttle Central about ten years later. Luna describes 13+ years in the travel industry and prior travel companies created.
Business model
Shuttle Central operates a two-sided model: it supplies travel companies with an API and integrated booking engine to resell airport transportation, shuttles, hourly drivers and car rental, while also selling transfers directly to travelers through its own site. It recruits transportation providers to supply capacity and invites partners to "start selling transfers," indicating a marketplace-style intermediation between travel demand channels and local ground operators.
Revenue is tied to transportation transactions booked through the platform; the company states that travel companies using it can boost revenue by 15-20% per transaction, and it sells transfers directly to consumers with secure online payment.
Traction
Y Combinator lists a team size of 28. The booking site cites more than 500,000 travelers served. A third-party profile reported 3.8/5 stars from 1,049 Google reviews as of July 2023 and total funding of $730K with Y Combinator among investors.
Latest developments
Shuttle Central remains listed as active by Y Combinator with a team of 28 and an open Tech Lead role based remotely from Cancún at $40K-$48K plus 1.00% equity. Its consumer site and separate booking engine are live, with published travel guides dated July 2026.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Shuttle Central presents itself as a technology provider for tourist ground transportation SMEs and travel companies, with over 100 destinations across Mexico, the Caribbean, the USA and Latin America. It was accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2022 batch and was named a winner of MASS C's 2021 acceleration program.
The company differentiates on multiple integration options for embedding transfer booking into existing travel platforms, an explicit revenue uplift claim of 15-20% per transaction for partners, breadth of Latin American and Caribbean destination coverage, and operator-side data tooling for pricing and fleet decisions.
Technology
The core technology is a booking engine and API for airport transportation and car rental that can be integrated into third-party travel e-commerce systems. Platform capabilities include real-time flight monitoring, online reservation management and web check-in for travelers, plus data and analytics tools for operators covering customer insights, pricing optimization and fleet management.
Go-to-market
Distribution runs through B2B integrations with travel platforms and websites via API and embeddable booking engine, supplemented by a direct-to-consumer booking site with destination landing pages, a travel blog, newsletter promotions and provider recruitment pages for transportation suppliers.
Travel companies, e-commerce travel platforms and OTAs that want to sell ground transportation; last-mile ground transportation operators and fleet providers; and leisure travelers booking airport transfers in Mexico, the Caribbean, the USA and Latin America.
Geography
Headquartered in Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico, with service coverage of 100+ destinations across Mexico, the Caribbean, the United States and Latin America, including Cancún, Los Cabos, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco, Las Vegas, Miami, Montego Bay, Nassau and Punta Cana. Contact is via a US phone number and job postings are remote from Cancún.
History
The company was founded in 2019 in Cancún. It won MASS C's 2021 acceleration program (reported April 2022) and joined Y Combinator's Winter 2022 batch. Spanish-language coverage in 2022 covered the post-pandemic recovery of tourist passenger transportation and the company's technology for tourist transport SMEs. Its booking engine carries a 2023 copyright notice, and the consumer site continues to publish destination content and hire for engineering roles.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Competitors · 2
by search overlapCompanies competing with Shuttle Central for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 2
launches, deals, and filingsCoverage in American Industrial Magazine reported Shuttle Central as the winner of MASS C's 2021 acceleration program.
Y Combinator lists Shuttle Central in its Winter 2022 (W22) batch, with Y Combinator cited as a significant investor.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Shuttle Centralshuttlecentral.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Shuttle Central do?
- Shuttle Central runs an API and booking platform that lets travel companies sell airport transfers and ground transportation online.
- Who founded Shuttle Central?
- Shuttle Central was founded by Barsi Luna, Jorge De Cordova, Luis Uicab in 2019.
- Who are Shuttle Central's investors?
- Shuttle Central's investors include 500 Global, Capria Ventures, MGV Capital, Y Combinator.
- Where is Shuttle Central headquartered?
- Shuttle Central is headquartered in Cancún, MX.