Most taxis charge their customers, but there will soon be five new electric carts roaming the streets of downtown Gainesville looking to give people a free ride.
Next week, the first three electric carts will be arriving from the Gotcha Media Group, an Atlanta-based company started by two Florida State University alumni.
The carts should be in service in just a couple weeks, according to company co-founder Drew Sfugaras.
The carts seat five passengers, besides the employed driver who works for tips, and are 100 percent electrically run, Sfugaras said.
The carts, specially designed with college students in mind, will be fitted with CD, DVD and MP3 players, as well as flat-screen TVs, he said.
"If the Jetsons' car had wheels, that's kinda what they look like," he said. "We want them to be fun."
The drivers will also act as concierges, offering up-to-date information on local events and hot spots, he said.
The carts can run two to three hours on one charge, and use a rapid-charge system that fully energizes the battery in 30 minutes.
The company is currently discussing with UF the best places to set up charging stations, Sfugaras said.
The carts can be hailed like paying taxis, or called in through a dispatch number. They will run from 7:30 a.m. until noon, he said. They will then start back up sometime in the evening and run until 3 a.m., so they will be available for students who have been out drinking, he said.
"The goal is that everyone gets home safely and we get everyone who needs a ride," he said.
Gotcha, which stands for Green Operated Transit Carrying Humanity Around, can afford offering free rides because the carts will be "wrapped in advertisements," he said.
The idea for the company came from trying to solve the pan-collegiate problem of difficult student parking while also giving advertisers the chance to make an impression on college students, Sfugaras said.
"It's really the best way to get in front of these people," he said. "We love the model of providing a free service to students while marketing."
Other late-night transportation will still be available for students. ZipCarts, a nightly shuttle service, and a formerly free ride, now charges $3 per person and will compete with Gotcha taxis.
Student Government also offers Student Nighttime Auxiliary Patrol, the free campus transportation service, until 3 a.m.
