Hamilton to have free ride service in 2023

LocalMotive will help people navigate the city’s urban core.

Three brothers plan in 2023 to roll out several five-passenger transport vehicles to help people navigate around much of Hamilton’s urban core.

Dustin, Derrick, and Devan Ward, all born and raised in Hamilton, have started LocalMotive, where they will provide free rides for people in one of up to four GEM e6 vehicles circling a 2.5-mile continuous loop Thursdays through Sundays. Dustin Ward, the company’s CEO, said they hope to launch sometime in early- to mid-2023.

“We’re seeing all the great things happening in Hamilton,” he said. “We just want to be a part of the movement and help give back to the community in some way.”

The free rides will be paid for through advertising, either on a vehicle’s exterior wrap or via video ads on an in-vehicle iPad.

“Ultimately, our goal is to give back to the community when we’re at that level of sustainability with the company,” Ward said.

When LocalMotive launches the routes, it will be done as a pilot program. Ward said he and his brothers want to expand to other areas of the city, but the focus is seeing how the community and visitors respond to the pilot launch.

“That’s been in the discussions of the team, but as we grow, we absolutely would want to scale larger and get more vehicles and essentially drive wherever people need,” Ward said. “But as our first launch with the city, our main target is to see how this will work with Spooky Nook.”

While they have four vehicles, the plan, for now, is to have three in motion during operating hours (it can accommodate five passengers per vehicle, and if demand calls for it, the fourth could be put into the rotation.

The route will go from Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill on North B Street to across the Black Street Bridge, then down North 3rd Street, then onto Buckeye Street. From there, it will go onto North 2nd Street to Dayton Street to Riverfront Plaza to Market Street to North Monument Street. The route will then cross the High-Main Bridge and continue along Main Street, turning onto North D Street, then along the alleyway between Main Street and Park Avenue before heading back up North B Street to Spooky Nook.

There will be four to five designated drop-off/pickup locations, but additional ones could be added as the pilot program operates. They will have locations at Spooky Nook, somewhere in German Village, at Marcum Park, and somewhere along Main and High streets.

City Engineer Rich Engle is part of the city team that’s been working with LocalMotive. In addition to establishing the route, he said the city’s law department developed new legislation that would specifically address this business model “because they are not taxis, they are not for hire by the people using the vehicle.”

While there haven’t been any other similar businesses seeking to come into Hamilton, Engle said there had been basic discussions pertaining electric scooter company.

“We haven’t moved forward with that conversation very far,” he said of electric scooters in Hamilton. “We’ve been investigating other communities that have electric scooters. We would certainly have to have new legislation with that as well.”

Any business owner that wishes to advertise, either on the exterior wrap or the in-vehicle iPad, can contact Ward at dustin.ward@localmotiverides.com or (513) 479-4314.

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