Startups

Forget electric scooters, golf carts are the new thing. Will we see them in Philly?

As WilminGo launches Friday, its app-hailed electric golf cart will start zooming down the streets of Wilmington, Del. Might they come up I-95?

As of this Friday, if you’re within a specific, 39-block area of Wilmington, Del., you can tap a mobile app and have an electric golf cart scoop you up and take you where you need to go.

The ride-hailing company, WilminGo, is the product of a partnership between real estate firm Buccini/Pollin Group and the University of Delaware’s Horn Entrepreneurship, and is run by Horn students Andrew Cercena and Matthew Lombardi. 

As our sister site Technical.ly Delaware reports, the service will charge a flat transportation fee of $3 for up to two people. For three to five folks, the fee is $5.

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WilminGo follows a trend that’s popping up in other cities like Memphis or Nashville. But let’s put things in context: WilminGo starts small, with literally one cart zipping riders around downtown.

And now, for the question that you’re actually here for: Will we see tiny golf carts duke it out with rush hour traffic on Broad Street?

“[We’re] always looking to grow but our core market is the greater Wilmington area for now,” Buccini/Pollin Group COO Dan McCarthy said in an email.

“But [there’s] no reason why Philly could not do something similar,” adds Ted Foltyn, a professor at UD Horn. “They are electric, street legal and fun!”

Update: WilminGo is pushing back its launch to mid-September. Read more here(8/23/18, 12:58 p.m.)

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