New York Post:
Topher McGibbon’s 18-month-old enterprise, Kid Car NY, has a loyal clientele and a lengthy waiting list. But when he started out, McGibbon literally couldn’t give his services away.
Kid Car is a taxi service designed for parents of infants and young children, offering minivans kitted out with professionally installed car seats and specially trained drivers. So when he launched the business last year, McGibbon’s first step when it came to attracting customers “was to buy some vehicles and drive around New York and offering rides to people with strollers trying to hail cabs.”
It turned out to be a tougher sell than he’d expected.
“Nobody would take one,” says McGibbon, a 35-year-old Atlanta native and Columbia grad. “It turned out New Yorkers are suspicious of getting something for nothing.”
Today the Chelsea-based service has over 300 members, who pay $300 a year in exchange for discounted rates. For nonmembers, Kid Car charges $28 for a single journey within Manhattan, $70 by the hour and $100-plus for an airport run.
McGibbon is coy about discussing the growth of the business – he won’t divulge exact figures, or reveal how many vans he has on the street. But with “a waiting list as long as my arm,” he allows that “the consumer response has response has exceeded our expectations.” And he’s expanding – he’s added some new services, including Kid Car MD (for pediatric appointments) and Kid Car Outer Borough, and is considering branching out to other cities.
Photo by Kid Car NY.