Downtown Tampa’s New DASH Car Service: What To Know

A brand new ride-share service makes getting round Downtown Tampa handy, inexpensive, and environmentally pleasant. DASH, which stands for Downtown Space Shared Hubs, permits you to use an app to summon a yellow Tesla Mannequin Y electrical automobile. Uniformed, background-checked drivers function all autos. Hub-to-Hub service prices solely $2.

DASH joins different transportation choices to make it simpler for folks to get across the downtown space with out counting on their private autos, which solely provides to visitors congestion. The next info explains how DASH works and what you have to know to remain secure when utilizing any at present obtainable ride-share choices.

What’s DASH, and the way does it work?

The Tampa Downtown Partnership launched its Downtown Space Shared Hubs or DASH ride-share service on October 12, 2023, with six vivid yellow Tesla mid-size electrical autos. DASH operates as a hub-to-hub service with 20 digital hubs positioned all through Downtown Tampa. 

Riders use a cellular app on their Apple or Android units to hail a DASH automobile. The automobile will take them between hubs for less than $2 per individual. DASH is a real ride-share that pairs riders for every hub-to-hub journey. Autos carry a most of 4 passengers, however you’ll solely be paired with a most of two riders for a hub-to-hub journey.

The service complies with the necessities of the People with Disabilities Act. ADA-compliant autos could also be summoned via the DASH app for riders with disabilities.  

Sprint drivers should have clear driving data and go a background examine. Drug screening is a part of the vetting course of. As soon as employed, drivers endure a coaching course that teaches them secure driving expertise. Drivers should know their method across the Downtown space, so a superb portion of their coaching focuses on giving them the information wanted to be goodwill ambassadors able to answering rider questions on Downtown Tampa.

The service operates seven days every week. Monday via Saturday hours are 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Moreover, DASH doesn’t function on the next holidays:

• Thanksgiving Day
• Christmas Day
• New 12 months’s Day
• Gasparilla Day

Absent hurricanes and different excessive climate situations that trigger native officers to shut roads to vehicular visitors, DASH service is accessible throughout inclement climate.

Issues to know to make your DASH expertise extra pleasing

The next are a number of guidelines to know for a hassle-free using expertise utilizing the DASH service:

• Go away pets at house: You can not carry the household canine or different kind of animal alongside in a DASH automobile. An exception is accessible for service animals.
• Kids’s automotive and booster seats: DASH autos do not need automotive seats and booster seats for youngsters. Carry them with you when touring with kids.
• Restricted area for bikes: You can not carry a bicycle or scooter right into a DASH automobile apart from a folding bike that matches within the trunk. 
• Weapons prohibited: You can not carry a weapon right into a DASH automobile.
• Fee methodology: The one option to pay to experience in a DASH automobile is thru the cellular app. Drivers can’t settle for money funds for the fare and are prohibited from taking suggestions. The cellular app has a score system for riders to charge a driver.
• Don’t get lost from the hub after hailing a experience: Drivers can’t wait greater than 5 minutes for a rider to reach at a hub location.
• No meals or drinks: You can not enter a DASH automobile with meals or drink.
• Cancellation charges apply: When you e-book a experience and later resolve to cancel, anticipate incurring a cancellation price.

DASH drivers are educated to name for help from the Tampa Police Division to take care of unruly passengers or passengers who refuse to obey the foundations to be used of the DASH service.

Advantages of utilizing DASH ride-share service 

In the course of the first 50 weeks of 2023, Hillsborough County reported 439 motor vehicle crashes attributable to drivers whose means to function a automobile was impaired by way of medication, alcohol, or a mix of each. DASH provides folks a substitute for their private automobile for getting round Downtown Tampa, particularly when their driving means is impaired.

Of us residing in Downtown Tampa and college students attending college on the College of Tampa now have an inexpensive and handy choice for getting round city. DASH permits vacationers and guests to park their vehicles and depend on a yellow Tesla with a uniformed driver to take them all through the downtown space.

Suggestions for safely utilizing DASH and different ride-share companies

Information stories of ride-share passengers injured in accidents or changing into victims of robberies and assaults proof the necessity for warning when utilizing DASH or any ride-share companies. Listed below are a number of suggestions for staying secure:

• Wait in a secure location: Guarantee that you’re in a secure, well-lit location whereas awaiting the arrival of a ride-share automobile.
• Determine the automobile and driver: Solely board the automobile confirmed by the ride-share service to make sure your security. DASH makes it simple to determine their vivid yellow autos. Uber and Lyft give you the make, mannequin, and license plate variety of the automobile selecting you up. Additionally they present the identify and photograph of the driving force. DASH drivers and riders have one another’s names and descriptions to make use of for identification functions. Don’t enter a automobile with out verifying the driving force’s id.
• Trip within the again seat: Seat within the again seat except there are different passengers that stop it. 
• Buckle up: All the time put on a seatbelt and hold it buckled till the automobile involves a cease at your vacation spot.
• Don’t experience alone after consuming: DASH and different ride-shares improve security, permitting folks to keep away from impaired driving. Having a companion is safer while you’ve had an excessive amount of to drink and should lack readability.
• Belief your instincts: If something in regards to the ride-share scenario makes you are feeling uncomfortable or uneasy, cancel the experience. This consists of unsafe driving on the a part of the driving force. 

Report accidents and different points with the experience to the ride-share firm as quickly as doable.

Assist obtainable from a Tampa private harm lawyer

When you maintain accidents in a ride-share accident, you will have the fitting to hunt compensation for the hurt ensuing from another person’s negligence. The Tampa private harm legal professionals at KFB Regulation will help you pursue a declare for damages. Contact us today for a free session.