Max Cook recalls UF’s football game against the Kentucky Wildcats a bit differently from most people.
While Gator fans shuffled out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium to the nearest parking lot, Cook, 24, transported a middle-aged couple uphill via rickshaw east on University Avenue just past 34th Street.
At one point, the male passenger got out to push the bicycle taxi up the hill as Cook pulled. The feat was strenuous but yielded Cook a handsome $40 tip. The female passenger apologized for the trouble.
Cook is a rickshaw driver for I’d Ride That, a local transportation company that drives passengers around Gainesville with a one-manned bicycle taxi.
The company was founded in May 2011 by Charlie Brown.
Brown, 24, said he saw a rickshaw for the first time in Charleston, S.C., seven years ago. He volunteered for AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps at the time, aiding disaster recovery.
“I’ve been a biker all my life,” Brown said. “I saw a rickshaw, and I was like ‘Yeah, that’s what I want to do.’”
Brown is an Ocala native who moved to Gainesville about four years ago. He found a job opening as a rickshaw driver at Gainesville Rickshaws.
Brown said he was fired from Gainesville Rickshaws and started I’d Ride That in May 2011. He learned how to weld and enlisted the help of family friend Mike McClaine, who has a background in engineering, to build his first rickshaw. The company has five rickshaws and employs nine drivers.
He said that although he has worked every Gator football home game in the last three to four years, he has never been to one.
Cook said the company tends to cover most of the Midtown and downtown areas of Gainesville. The corner of Second Street and Main Street and the 17th Street area near Midtown are particularly good sources of business. I’d Ride That employees can be distinguished by their signature yellow jerseys.
Customers do not usually request the company’s services by phone. Instead, pedestrians find an I’d Ride That rickshaw driver on the street and ask for a ride.
Although I’d Ride That operates for Gator football games, the company also works at events in surrounding areas.
Cook said the company receives good business driving people in Jacksonville during large-scale country concerts at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. I’d Ride That also works Jacksonville Jaguars football games.
“People go to these things expecting to pay some money,” Brown said. “For me, it works out really well. I definitely hear some people say, ‘This is the most fun we’ve had the whole game.’”
I’d Ride That goes to Tallahassee when the Gators play at Florida State University and were at this season’s game against the University of Georgia Bulldogs in Jacksonville.
Cook said low to moderate amounts of business bring the company $200 to $300 a night, while a particularly productive evening can yield about $600.
Brown said the standard rate is $5 to $10, depending on weight, distance to the destination, workday busyness and other miscellaneous factors. However, if business is slow, the drivers are open to bartering. Past payments include free T-shirts and pizza.
“This is the best job I’ve had so far,” Cook said. “It’s a very unique business. It teaches you how to work with people and keep a positive attitude. It’s difficult to go back now.”
Brown said I’d Ride That sells company T-shirts. Customers can have the shirts delivered to them if they live within Gainesville city limits. The shirts cost $10 each.
For more information about I’d Ride That, visit the company’s Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/IdRideThat.
