Seniors hit the road with personal driving services
Date Posted:
Sat, Feb 23 2013,
Sun Sentinel
February 24, 2013|By Diane C. Lade, Sun Sentinel
Entrepreneur David Zwick was thinking of busy executives and tipsy revelers when he started RedCap, a Fort Lauderdale company that supplies drivers to chauffeur people in their own cars.
But Zwick started hearing something interesting as he promoted his concept: "Hey, my elderly parents could really use this."
South Florida has many seniors but few accessible and affordable ways for them to get to the pharmacy, evening club meetings and the grocery store when it's time to give up their keys.
Enter companies like RedCap and BeMyDD, or Be My Designated Driver, which both began in 2010 but are expanding to include senior customers.
"It's a huge potential market in South Florida, and it's easy to cater to," said Patrick Kucharson, operations manager for BeMyDD, a Cleveland-based personal driver service that operates in Florida and 23 other states. "Seniors usually are on time. And they aren't going to take you on a pub crawl that ends up lasting three hours."
State statistics show that one out of every four Floridians behind the wheel will be older than 65 by 2030, as the baby boomers age. In fact, Florida has 2.75 million 65-plus drivers, the second-highest in the nation. (California is first, with 3.1 million drivers age 65-plus.)
"People like their own cars," said Katherine Freund, a prominent elder and disabled transportation innovator. "I think you are going to see a lot of different market approaches to meeting this senior transportation need, which is growing very rapidly."
The Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton offers "driving retirement" planning, in which counselors help seniors compare transportation options and the cost of keeping a car. But center director Kathleen Valentine notes that the choices all have limits.
Asking friends and family for rides, if any even live locally, can feel humiliating. Social servicetransportation sometimes has low-income requirements, long wait times, and requires advance scheduling. Taking the bus can be too physically difficult or complex for frail elders. And taxis don't give the security and comfort seniors have in their own cars.
"I don't see my mother taking a cab. I think it's a safety issue," said Craig Farlie, a Fort Lauderdale investment banker who bought a RedCap membership for his 78-year-old mom after he enrolled in the service. "You have to wait outside for a taxi, and you never know what condition it will be in."
With RedCap and BeMyDD, what attracts seniors and people like Farlie, who sign their elder parents up for personal driving services, are the extras. Drivers are background-screened and professionally dressed. They escort their passengers from door to door, and wait for them at doctor appointments.
Both companies have annual membership fees — $49 for RedCap; $25 for BeMyDD — and also bill extra per ride, usually by the hour. Zwick said seniors can obtain discounts through organizations and charities that could make RedCap memberships as low as $99 a year. For most trips, both companies say their prices are comparable to what seniors would pay for a taxi.
Today, about 15 percent to 20 percent of BeMyDD's South Florida riders are seniors, a much higher portion than in the company's other markets.
Entrepreneur David Zwick was thinking of busy executives and tipsy revelers when he started RedCap, a Fort Lauderdale company that supplies drivers to chauffeur people in their own cars.
But Zwick started hearing something interesting as he promoted his concept: "Hey, my elderly parents could really use this."
South Florida has many seniors but few accessible and affordable ways for them to get to the pharmacy, evening club meetings and the grocery store when it's time to give up their keys.
Enter companies like RedCap and BeMyDD, or Be My Designated Driver, which both began in 2010 but are expanding to include senior customers.
"It's a huge potential market in South Florida, and it's easy to cater to," said Patrick Kucharson, operations manager for BeMyDD, a Cleveland-based personal driver service that operates in Florida and 23 other states. "Seniors usually are on time. And they aren't going to take you on a pub crawl that ends up lasting three hours."
State statistics show that one out of every four Floridians behind the wheel will be older than 65 by 2030, as the baby boomers age. In fact, Florida has 2.75 million 65-plus drivers, the second-highest in the nation. (California is first, with 3.1 million drivers age 65-plus.)
"People like their own cars," said Katherine Freund, a prominent elder and disabled transportation innovator. "I think you are going to see a lot of different market approaches to meeting this senior transportation need, which is growing very rapidly."
The Louis and Anne Green Memory and Wellness Center at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton offers "driving retirement" planning, in which counselors help seniors compare transportation options and the cost of keeping a car. But center director Kathleen Valentine notes that the choices all have limits.
Asking friends and family for rides, if any even live locally, can feel humiliating. Social servicetransportation sometimes has low-income requirements, long wait times, and requires advance scheduling. Taking the bus can be too physically difficult or complex for frail elders. And taxis don't give the security and comfort seniors have in their own cars.
"I don't see my mother taking a cab. I think it's a safety issue," said Craig Farlie, a Fort Lauderdale investment banker who bought a RedCap membership for his 78-year-old mom after he enrolled in the service. "You have to wait outside for a taxi, and you never know what condition it will be in."
With RedCap and BeMyDD, what attracts seniors and people like Farlie, who sign their elder parents up for personal driving services, are the extras. Drivers are background-screened and professionally dressed. They escort their passengers from door to door, and wait for them at doctor appointments.
Both companies have annual membership fees — $49 for RedCap; $25 for BeMyDD — and also bill extra per ride, usually by the hour. Zwick said seniors can obtain discounts through organizations and charities that could make RedCap memberships as low as $99 a year. For most trips, both companies say their prices are comparable to what seniors would pay for a taxi.
Today, about 15 percent to 20 percent of BeMyDD's South Florida riders are seniors, a much higher portion than in the company's other markets.