INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The Riley Area Development Corporation has applied for a grant from Ford Motor Company to test-market four fully electric vehicles that would offer six riders at a time a free ride in the downtown area.

The vehicles are unlike anything residents are used to seeing on area roads. They are reminiscent of overgrown golf carts that are street legal. 

Circuit, formally known as Free Ride, is the company behind the vehicles.

“Now it has become a micro transportation option in many cities, including Ann Arbor and Boston and several major cities,” said Meg Storrow.

Storrow is on the Riley Area Development Corporation board of directors. She is also a transportation planner and is the person behind the grant application.

The vehicles would run a regular route and riders don’t pay a dime for the ride. Funding for the service comes from advertisers.

The annual operating cost, including a driver’s salary, is $75,000. Riley Area Development Corporation is hoping the service will fill in some of the transportation gaps, called the last mile, which are areas not served by public transportation.

“So this last mile needs to be serviced by a cluster of options, the right-of-way right now is very car-oriented,” Storrow said. “But as vehicles slow down, because of the potential conflicts in the roadway, it makes it open to more, different types of vehicles, because the slower the traffic gets, the more it allows for different options and it becomes safer.”

If the grant is approved, the plan is to test four vehicles in the downtown area that will connect JW Marriott, IU Health, the Julia M. Carson Transit Center and Mass Ave.

If the test proves successful, Riley Area Development Corporation hopes to partner with larger downtown employers to offset the cost and expand the routes. Storrow says there are people moving downtown that just don’t want the hassles of a car.

“The drivers are ambassadors for the city. They are trained to talk about where you are, where you are visiting. Do you need a restaurant? What do you want to see? So they can be ambassadors for the visitors,” Storrow said. “They are there to help people, so it is also comfortable and gets us back to being a neighborhood in a nice way.”

If Riley Area Development Corporation is given the grant, it could be several months before residents see one of the vehicles on the street. It is unclear what, if any, permits are required to operate a free ride service in Indianapolis.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Alexander Esposito from Circuit told News 8 in a statement:

We’re still very much in the planning stages, so there’s not too much to share just yet but I’ll be sure to keep in touch with updates as we look further into the opportunity. “