According to a recent article in the Red & Black, Tip Whip, a start-up company which aims to provide safe and comfortable rides for students no matter their financial situation is coming to Athens.
Like Uber, Tip Whip has an app where students can request rides to different locations, but rides with Tip Whip are donation-based. College students basically tip drivers based on what they can afford to pay.
Connor Fields, a senior supply-chains management major and director of Southeastern expansion for Tip Whip, said this is what sets them apart from companies such as Uber and Lyft.
“We want to be the antithesis to that,” says Fields. “Instead of these strangers coming into town and over charging you and not picking you up in the right places.”
Students who want to be drivers can apply on the app and go through a background check. According to founder and CEO Spencer Wood, this process typically takes about 48 hours.
With Field's help, Tip Whip is now active at the University of Georgia with 161 app downloads.
“My philosophy is we’ll get students home no matter how much money you have in your pocket,” Wood said. “That way you’re not worried about surge pricing, and you’re not worried about having to walk home alone or get in the car with somebody that been drinking.”
Wood started the company in January of 2014 while attending graduate school at The University of Maine.
Wood got the idea to start his business not long after a friend called him from a bar because he needed a ride home and did not have enough money for a cab. His friend gave him his last few dollars after he dropped him off.
After his transportation services business idea took off at UMO, Wood decided to expand his company to colleges around the northeast including three universities in Maine and two in New Hampshire.
Now he plans to continue spreading Tip Whip into the Southeast and eventually to more colleges around the country.
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