This new service is offering free rides in downtown Columbus. Here’s how it works
A free transportation service is coming to downtown Columbus.
Starting Dec. 26, the Columbus Consolidated Government will deploy four electric carts called Uptown Shuttles. They will operate in the service area of Bay Avenue to First Avenue and Ninth Street to 14th Street. But they won’t cross 13th Street, the corridor with the most vehicle traffic in the area, so the carts will access 14th Street via Front Avenue.
Uptown Shuttle hours will be Mondays-Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Fridays-Saturdays from 10 a.m. to midnight.
How to request an Uptown Shuttle ride in Columbus
The CCG Metra website has two ways to request a ride:
- Scan the QR code
- Or click on the “Schedule a Trip” link.
A requested ride will be sent to an available shuttle driver’s computer tablet, then an email or text will be sent to the rider to confirm the trip and the estimated time of arrival. The cart will arrive at the nearest on-street pickup location.
This is a personalized, on-demand service, Columbus Metra Parking Division manager Terana Lewis told the Ledger-Enquirer. Customers won’t share the vehicle with strangers.
“It’s one person or group at a time,” she said. The carts fit five passengers.
These carts run on rechargeable electric batteries with supplemental solar power from a roof panel. Each cart is painted with a theme that celebrates Columbus: the art cart, the military cart, the music cart and the river cart.
CCG calls the vehicles carts, but these shuttles are more substantial than a golf cart. They are GEMs (Global Electric Motorcars), headquartered in Medina, Minnesota. These street-legal vehicles can reach 35 mph.
They are fully enclosed, but the doors are removable to allow for fresh-air rides in comfortable weather. Lewis said they also will have heating and air conditioning installed before the new year.
How much are free rides on Uptown Shuttles costing Columbus taxpayers?
The startup cost for this program is approximately $400,000, Lewis said. She didn’t have an yearly cost estimate for operating the service.
“Future annual funding will depend on the level of demand for the shuttle service during the initial pilot phase,” she said.
Columbus Council unanimously approved the purchase of the four carts Feb. 28 and the purchase of application development services and software March 28. The additional staff positions to provide the shuttle service were approved as part of CCG’s fiscal year 2024 budget, Lewis said.
Why is Columbus starting an Uptown Shuttle service?
Downtown businesses and hotels have been asking for such a service “for a few years in an effort to connect people from one area to another within the district,” Lewis said.
VisitColumbusGa president and CEO Peter Bowden told the Ledger-Enquirer he isn’t aware of any other Georgia city having this service.
“It allows for another visitor experience,” he said. “It provides another amenity. Columbus is always sort of reinventing that experience. So this just provides that one more thing we can offer both for leisure travel and for meetings and conventions, another convenience feature. … Hopefully, this will lead to more things like this, as far as moving people around.”
Smoking and consumption of food or beverages in the Uptown Shuttles are prohibited.
For more information about the Uptown Shuttle, call the Metra office at 706-225-4584. Lewis noted Metra seeks to hire a fifth Uptown Shuttle driver. She welcomes folks interested in such a job to call her at that number.
This story was originally published December 15, 2023 at 12:10 PM.
