Charlotte now has a free, green rideshare option for people traveling between uptown and South End.
GEST Carts, which stands for Green Easy Safe Transportation, launched in the city last week. Its electric golf carts offer transportation services similar to Lyft or Uber and operate in uptown's First, Second, Third and Fourth wards as well as in South End.
The Cincinnati-based company, founded in 2018 by Patrick Dye, is set up similarly to traditional rideshare services in that customers can request a ride through an app. Unlike Uber or Lyft, however, riders can also call for a pickup or hail a cart like a taxi.
"It's a mix of an old-school taxi feel with a new-school vibe," Dye said. "We’re based on serving the urban core of cities because we're not providing long-distance rides. This is microtransit, and it's free."
GEST is able to offer free rides through advertisements that are placed on its carts.
GEST also operates in Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Colorado, and Las Vegas. Dye said the Charlotte launch is particularly meaningful for himself and local franchise owner and co-founder Corey Johnson, both of whom are Queen City natives. The pair met in Cincinnati a decade ago.
"Corey and I had been in discussion about this since last year," he said. "With Charlotte being our hometowns, it was always something we wanted to bring back, so this was one of those special starred locations."
GEST rolled out a soft launch on Halloween weekend, when Johnson said the company gave more than 100 rides over two days. The average ride is less than six blocks.
"The premise of the soft launch was bring the cart out, get folks to think and talk about it," he said. "This particular opportunity is an experience. It’s got lights and music, so when you’re only going four or five blocks it’s still a nice experience."
Currently, two carts are operational in Charlotte. Dye said he expects to expand as the user base increases throughout 2022. By the end of next year, Chicago will have 15 carts, Detroit will have six to eight and Cincinnati will have six.
"Every market is different," Dye said. "Just because we can flood the city doesn’t mean it’s always the smartest business move."
