Putting the ‘SouthPark Skipper’ to the test

SouthPark is running free on-demand rides in its commercial district — we tried them out

Dec 12, 2024

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Undercover rider: I was skeptical about SouthPark’s new free shuttle service, but now I’m a (Free)bee-liever

Navigating the streets of SouthPark: Writer Colleen Brannan and her husband took four rides on the new “SouthPark Skipper” free shuttle service and found it to be a five-star experience. (Photos courtesy of Colleen Brannan)

by Colleen Brannan

I don’t know about you, but when I heard that SouthPark was rolling out a free ride service called the SouthPark Skipper, I had a lot of questions.

My curiosity and skepticism immediately started squabbling like teenagers fighting over the aux cord on a road trip. Let’s face it: There’s no such thing as a free ride (or lunch). So how does this service actually work? What problem is it solving? How long is the wait time? Are the drivers pleasant? Or cranky?

I set out to investigate. A bustling Saturday afternoon seemed like the perfect time for me — a freshly minted Lyft Five Star Rider — to go undercover, ride the Skipper and dish out some unsolicited feedback to the folks at SouthPark Community Partners, the nonprofit organization funded largely by a special SouthPark taxing district that’s picking up the tab for the rides. The service, operated by a company called Freebee, started in mid-November.

Armed with a staycation cover story about Clemson friends visiting for last weekend’s ACC Championship, I even dragged my Tiger husband along for a pretend getaway at The Apex’s Hyatt Centric.

The idea behind the Skipper is straightforward: to provide an alternative, convenient way for people to get around SouthPark, without having to drive repeatedly through aggravating traffic and unleash their primal hunting instincts to find a coveted parking space.

It’s not the first: On-demand ride services have taken off with the rise of Uber and Lyft. This year, the city of Gastonia replaced its bus service with a fleet of on-demand vans, SUVs and sedans. There have been other experiments, too, including GEST Carts, an advertising-supported free shuttle service in South End and uptown; and free rides by a company called Jaunt on weekends this summer in Plaza-Midwood.

But how would Skipper stack up? We were about to find out.

From Apex to Jesse Brown’s to Williams Sonoma to Sabor

After parking at The Apex (0-3 hours free!), I downloaded the Freebee app, created a rider profile and requested our first ride. Within minutes, a sleek, white, Skipper-branded Tesla Model X arrived, its futuristic doors lifting like a scene straight out of “Back to the Future”:

Our driver, Dajong, greeted us warmly and humored my endless questions, revealing that Skipper employs six cars—five Teslas and one Toyota Sienna minivan for accessibility needs. In her experience, riders span all ages, with trips ranging from Harris Teeter grocery runs and happy hour rescues to work commutes. When pressed about unusual requests, Dajong shared her favorite: One passenger requested a ride straight to the ABC store at opening time, purchased two handles and went straight home. Cheers to priorities and planning!

12:55 p.m.: The first stop, 1.1 miles away, was Sharon Corners, to shop HomeGoods and Jesse Brown’s Outdoors. It took us eight minutes door-to-door. From the looks of the parking lot, it would have taken us longer than that to find a parking space.

1:29 p.m.: Corey picked us up at Jesse Brown’s and drove us one mile to BrickTop’s at Specialty Shops SouthPark. It took a whopping five minutes. This time, we rode in the fleet’s lone Sienna. While it is designed for accessibility, Corey said he had not driven any handicapped passengers yet, perhaps because the service is so new. Most of his passengers have been shoppers or bar hoppers. Black Friday chaos topped his list of challenges. Unfortunately, BrickTop’s was packed, so we detoured to Williams Sonoma.

1:54 p.m.: Vladyslav scooped us at Williams Sonoma in a Tesla Model X and drove us 0.8 miles to Sabor at Morrison in six minutes. Recruited by another driver, Vlad shared stories about his previous work with Lyft and Uber as well as Skipper’s policy on intoxicated riders: Tipsy is fine; passed out is not. He confessed a soft spot for ladies who liquid lunch. DULY NOTED 😊

2:42 p.m.: Kostiantyn took us on our final Skipper voyage, traveling 0.5 miles in six minutes from Sabor back to The Apex. Ironically, he was the friend who recruited Vlad and is a supervisor who came to Charlotte from Freebee in Virginia Beach. He noted that Charlotte riders are typically on missions—shopping, errands or work—compared with the party crowd in Virginia Beach.

The SouthPark Skipper provides rides throughout SouthPark’s commercial district, including Phillips Place, the SouthPark Mall area, Piedmont Town Center and Morrocroft Village. (Map from SouthPark Community Partners)

Four rides in two hours allowed me to spot some trends and formulate a report card:

Driver background: All four drivers love driving for Skipper and consider it their primary job, not a side hustle. Many work four 10-hour shifts per week and found the job either through Indeed.com or friend referrals.

Tipping: All told me, when asked, that only half of the riders for this free service tip the drivers. While they were easygoing about this fun fact, it felt wrong to me.

Riders: Don’t skip the tip! If you think about it, these rides from Lyft or Uber would have cost $7-$8 each.
Drivers: Give lots of options to be tipped. I had to use three different payment options — cash, Venmo and Zelle — over the course of my four rides to satisfy each driver’s preference, but I was determined to tip well every time.

No driver denied me a selfie :)

Colleen with drivers Vladyslav (left) and Corey (right). The drivers of the SouthPark Skipper said they consider it their primary job, not a side hustle.

Report card: ‘A+’ across the board

Reliability: Immediate responses felt borderline psychic.
Freebee app ease of use: Seamless to book and chat with drivers. And it serves 50 cities. If you don’t want to use the app, there’s a phone number you can call, too. (The service’s website has all the details.)
Safety: Although SouthPark’s commercial district covers a small footprint, traffic can make walking around the area feel dangerous on foot. SouthPark has plans to add more footpaths and pedestrian connections, with projects like the SouthPark Loop, but retrofitting an already developed area takes time. Being driven is a pampered experience.
Convenience: A lifesaver for those short on time and/or wanting to avoid the parking jungle. It’s available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Riders 12 years and younger must be accompanied by an adult. Cars are each equipped with a booster seat.
Comfort: Clean, well-maintained rides with no climate issues or clash of musical tastes.
Customer experience: Drivers were friendly, fantastic conversationalists who did not give me a hard time for my short distances or interrogations.
Eco-friendly: Teslas — all electric! Your ride report in the app shows the environmental impact of how much CO2 was saved on each ride, making you feel less lazy for riding a half-mile.

As a part-time couch crime-solver, I was determined to find something wrong with the SouthPark Skipper service. But alas, I could not.

I am all about supporting SouthPark Community Partners’ mission to be a “park once place that’s easy and safe to explore” and showed how it can be done.

SouthPark Community Partners’ CEO, Adam Rhew, says that the organization is “extremely pleased with the ridership in the first three weeks of the program.” In the first 24 days in operation, he says the Skipper served 1,842 passengers in 1,285 rides. By my math, that’s an average of about 77 passengers a day on 54 rides a day. He says the Skipper is a one-year pilot program expected to cost $465,000 and that the organization will examine the data in the spring to figure out the next steps.

My remaining question, which I wondered out loud to all drivers, is why this isn’t being done in other congested areas of Charlotte. I can report that two out of four of my drivers revealed that free shuttles are heading to Ballantyne soon so, if that happens, you heard it here first.

(A spokeswoman for Northwood Office — which owns the Ballantyne Corporate Park, the Ballantyne hotel and is building the huge Ballantyne Reimagined project — confirmed that the area is “planning to offer a complimentary shuttle for our customers in 2025,” with details to be announced later.)

Keeping in the spirit of free services, because the marketer in me can’t help myself, I recommend they call that one Ballantyne Beeline, since it’s brought to you by Freebee, has some alliteration — and it rhymes.😊

Colleen Brannan, a 30+ year public relations professional who owns BRANSTORM PR, is a regular contributor to The Ledger. She considers some of her best work going undercover as a server on Valentine’s Day at the former Dogwood Southern Table in SouthPark. Connect with her on LinkedIn or email colleen@branstorm.com

Related Transit Time articles:

“Free on-demand EV car rides are heading to SouthPark” (Sept. 26)
“Why Gastonia is getting rid of its buses” (Jan. 11)
“Small N.C. towns replace buses with on-demand shuttles” (April 21, 2022)

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