Offering free rides downtown, ChattyWagon founders hope to alleviate parking crunch

Alex Tyler, one of the founders of ChattyWagon in downtown Chattanooga and student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, drives around members of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau in a low-speed, electric vehicle made by Polaris. ChattyWagon offers free rides for locals and tourists in downtown Chattanooga every Thursday-Saturday night. (Contributed photo)
Alex Tyler, one of the founders of ChattyWagon in downtown Chattanooga and student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, drives around members of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau in a low-speed, electric vehicle made by Polaris. ChattyWagon offers free rides for locals and tourists in downtown Chattanooga every Thursday-Saturday night. (Contributed photo)
photo Alex Tyler, one of the founders of ChattyWagon in downtown Chattanooga and student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, drives around members of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau in a low-speed, electric vehicle made by Polaris. ChattyWagon offers free rides for locals and tourists in downtown Chattanooga every Thursday-Saturday night. (Contributed photo)
photo ChattyWagon offers a free mobile app for Android and iPhone users to download in order to request a ride downtown. They offer rides stretching from the Southside and east 20th Street to the North Shore.

As the number of residents in downtown Chattanooga increases and the availability of public parking continues to be an ongoing problem for the city's core, a new transportation company founded by three Chattanooga natives hopes to offer a solution.

ChattyWagon, founded by Aaron Murray, Alex Tyler and Sam Smith - all current or former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students - launched a free riding service June 1 that aims to offer locals and visitors another option trying to get around downtown. The young entrepreneurs, ranging in age from 18-22, will offer free rides in downtown but hope to make money through advertising inside and outside of the six-passenger, electric vehicles that are available for rides Thursday-Saturday from 6 p.m. to midnight.

"We are born and raised here and we love this city," said Murray, who is 22 and recently graduated from UTC with a marketing degree. "We think it's a great, new solution."

An entrepreneur even in college, Murray started a marketing company his sophomore year at UTC and did some drone work for the Riverbend Festival. He said that while driving around in a golf cart at the festival working, several people came up and said they would pay for a ride.

"We just thought that was pretty fascinating," he said. "We got several people asking us and thought wouldn't this be great if we could go from UTC to the restaurants downtown and the (Tennessee) Aquarium."

The three young adults launched ChattyWagon with some financial backing from family and are starting conservatively, Murray said. Smith, Tyler and Murray are the only drivers and they stay confined to the downtown area – stretching from the Southside to the North Shore. Locals and tourists can download their mobile app by searching "ChattyWagon" on an Android or iPhone to request a ride.

Right now, they have three, low-speed electric vehicles from Polaris they purchased while in Florida but are hoping to expand their fleet soon. The six-seater carts with doors and seat belts can range in price from $15,000 all the way to $40,000, Murray said.

"Just in the last month-and-a-half, we have been swamped," Murray said. "We didn't think it was going to be this quick – we've just exploded."

While the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority provides free rides on their electric buses in the downtown area, ChattyWagon will pick up and drop off riders where they want instead of at designated stops. As school starts back up in August, the ChattyWagon founders are hoping to soon provide transportation to UTC students and hire more drivers. While the rides are free, tips for drivers are accepted, their website states.

Right now, Wise Properties, Rodizio Grill and Totto Sushi advertisements cover the sides of the vehicles.

Julia Brock, marketing coordinator for Rodizio Grill both downtown and at Hamilton Place Mall, said this is the first time the company has taken advantage of mobile advertising like this. Brock said they've done advertising everywhere - newspapers, magazines, radio, billboards and social media.

"I believe advertising in all those places is good, but we just wanted something different," she said. "The idea behind (ChattyWagon) was really cool, and when we rode around in it, we saw everybody essentially watching the ChattyWagon."

Murray said if they see enough success with advertising then they hope to expand to other cities.

"We've got other competitors nationwide also offering free rides, and we want to be more community focused and help residents and tourists," Murray said. "We saw a need and thought we can help Chattanooga in this way."

Contact staff writer Allison Shirk at ashirk@timesfreepress.com, @Allison_Shirk or 423-757-6651.

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