Free service will provide rides in downtown Macon from offices, hotels, parking decks

If you see a colorful, three-wheel, open-air electric vehicle in downtown Macon, similar to a fancy golf cart, just hop on for a free ride.

When Gene Watson, co-owner of HopOn Macon, saw a need in the growing downtown area for people to get quicker from a parking garage, office or hotel to restaurants, he decided to try to fill that need.

“As vibrant as our downtown is, I mean it’s literally growing by the month because of new businesses coming in … people need a way to get around, especially during the Cherry Blossom Festival when you have many things going on,” Watson said.

Right now he drives one of the low-speed electric vehicles around downtown, giving people rides and trying to entice businesses to buy ads that would be placed on it. The HopOn Macon business officially will start next month with three vehicles.

Josh Rogers, president/CEO of NewTown Macon, said this is one way new businesses get started.

“Gene Watson represents the best qualities of downtown entrepreneurs,” Rogers said. “He saw a problem and solved it through determination, hard work and the quirkiness that keeps downtown cool.”

The idea for providing rides for downtown folks started after Watson was contacted by a friend who owned Signature Salon. When the salon opened its downtown location about two years ago, the owner realized potential customers might be dissuaded from doing business there because they might not be able to park nearby. So the retiree was asked to use a regular golf cart to shuttle customers to the salon for awhile, which he did.

“But what was so amazing was everyone downtown wanted a ride,” he said. “They didn’t want to walk all over downtown.”

However, due to insurance restrictions, Watson could only transport salon customers. He also learned the regulations for using golf carts are strict because it’s considered a personal recreational vehicle. So, he found something else that would work to transport anyone.

“It got me to thinking and I stared researching micro-transit, ... and I was just flabbergasted at what I found,” he said. “This is a very viable and sustainable option that are in most major cities in the United States. … These are low-speed electric vehicles, certified by (the Department of Transportation) and legal to go on any roadway with a speed limit of 35 mph or less.”

He couldn’t afford to start it up by himself, so Watson used several social media sites to advocate for a ride provider to come into Macon “so we could have this service.”

About three months ago, he partnered with HopOn Athens, which offers the ride service in downtown Athens. The first vehicle arrived Dec. 28, and Watson began driving it downtown at various times and routes.

That will change once the business is up and running. There will be three routes during specific times and days.

All three routes would include the downtown area. One would go around The Medical Center, Navicent Health, to help bring employees downtown. The second route would include the Macon Marriott City Center hotel on Coliseum Drive to pick up guests there, and the third route would include Mercer Lofts, next to the post office on College Street, over to Mercer University and the hotels nearby and back downtown.

“We don’t have exact routes yet,” he said. They would be “continuously operating” probably 11 a.m. to 2-3 p.m. to cover the lunch crowd. The vehicles would then be recharged and start again about 5 p.m. to about 9-10 p.m.

Watson will drive one of the routes, and the drivers for the other two have been hired.

The vehicles can carry six adults plus the driver. They have heaters and heated seats and weather curtains that can be attached. Sponsors who buy ads attached to the vehicle will pay for the service, he said. Some ads will be static, but on the rear is a 40-inch LED media player which would run streaming ads. These ads also will play on a 15-inch media player inside the vehicle that passengers can see.

“We have had very good response,” he said. “We have gotten about 60 percent of the ads needed. They are sold for a three-month minimum and we bill monthly.

“Everyone assumes there is a charge, but these are our sponsors and they are paying for the rides.”