A new Tesla taxi service is aiming to make navigating downtown Tampa a bit more convenient.
DASH Tampa launched earlier this month. For $2, a DASH driver in a Tesla taxi will pick them up and drop them off at one of more than 20 hubs in the downtown area.
“In any urban environment, you need multiple modes of transit,” said Shaun Drinkard, the interim president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership. “This mode of transit is really first-mile, last-mile. So, whether you live or work [here], or you're visiting downtown, it'll move you from one location to the other without having to get back in your car.
“It's really another mode of micro-transit, kind of similar to the E-bikes and E-scooters.”
Drinkard said the hubs are strategically located around major destinations throughout downtown. If events are blocking specific roadways, hubs can be shifted on the fly.
Rico Dixson is one of the new drivers for DASH. He says the team spent weeks before the launch driving the bright yellow Teslas to make people aware of the new service.
"There was a lot of waving, a lot of comments, people would roll down the window and talk about the color, or the concept itself,” Dixson said. “And then once we launched, as people are becoming more and more familiar with it, they're happy that it's here, they appreciate the affordability. And then how can you not enjoy being driven around in a nice Tesla?"
Drinkard says a few thousand people have already downloaded the DASH app.
“This gives us a little different mindset from just the traditional ‘get in your car and go,’” Drinkard said. “It's more of the transit experience in an urban environment. So I think it puts us at the table to talk about how we continue to evolve transportation in Tampa.”
People interested in using the service can download the app to find a nearby hub and schedule a ride.
There are currently six DASH taxis on the road in downtown Tampa. Drinkard says once someone schedules a service, their wait time will be around five to 10 minutes.
