Drivers in need can call designated biker team

Too inebriated to drive? Men on folding motorbikes can ride to your rescue.

• Photos

Rainier Ehrhardt/Staff

Zingo co-owner Turner Simkins pushes a folding scooter in front of the company's headquarters.

A designated driver service called Zingo-Augusta opens Thursday.

Anyone who needs assistance can call Zingo-Augusta's office, at 2659 Central Ave., and a designated driver on a scooter meets the caller. The driver folds up the scooter, puts it in the trunk and drives the client home in the client's car.

When the client is home safely, the driver rides back to the office on the scooter until the next call. The cost is $20 per pickup and $3 per mile.

"My wife and I used the business in Atlanta, and we were thrilled with it. We were at a wedding party. In the back of my mind, I thought that would be a neat thing to bring back to Augusta," said co-owner Turner Simkins.

Zingo is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Carpathia LLC. Mr. Simkins and Travis Gamble own the local franchise.

"We both thought, what a wonderful thing you can do for the community. You always see DUIs in the paper or where somebody got killed. ... The wonderful thing about this business is that we get to take people home safely," Mr. Gamble said.

They have hired 12 drivers and will hire additional full-time and part-time drivers, managers and dispatchers in the near future.

"We kicked around a lot of ideas for businesses that would be less affected by recession or the economy in general," Mr. Simkins said.

The partners plan to open up to 15 locations over the next two years, four or five of them this year, in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. That could bring their total work force to more than 200 employees.

There are 20 Zingo franchises nationwide, Mr. Simkins said.

The Di Blasi folding scooters are the only ones of their type, Mr. Simkins said. They can travel up to 35 mph, and if the distance is too far, Zingo-Augusta has a chase car provided by Mercedes of Augusta to pick up employees.

The owners plan to expand the service to day-surgery patients or people who are getting service done on their vehicle.

Zingo's operating hours are 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 p.m. to midnight Sunday.

"We feel if we provide a good service for the customer and remember that's our top priority, we will be successful because they'll want to come back," Mr. Gamble said.

Reach LaTina Emerson at (706) 823-3227 or latina.emerson@augustachronicle.com.