This Amish man is offering ‘Uber’ rides on his horse and buggy

Mesopotamia Township Ohio - "Impatience"
Flickr | Jack W. Pearce

Ride-sharing apps like Lyft and Uber have revolutionized transportation. People without cars no longer have to rely on public transportation or even traditional cabs to get where they’re going. Instead, they can just open up an app on their phone and request a ride to pick them up right at their front door.

Now, a Michigan man has created his own Uber-like service — the only catch being that he picks up his riders in a horse-drawn buggy.

Timothy Hochstedler of Colon, Michigan, calls his service “Amish Uber,” although he clarifies that he is not affiliated with the ride-sharing company in any way. He simply likes the name.

uber car photo
Getty Images | Spencer Platt

“Uber is a cool thing, every single year something new comes in and Uber is hot right now, so we have the Amish Uber,” Hochstedler told WWMT. “We can deliver people to their front doorsteps.”

Hochstedler charges just $5 for his door-to-door service. Keeping in line with Amish culture, which generally eschews many forms of modern technology, including automobiles, there’s no app to order your ride. Instead, riders simply flag down Hochstedler like they would a traditional taxi.

amish horse and buggy photo
Getty Images | Spencer Platt

For now, he’s only offering rides on weekends. So far, business is booming, and Hochstedler says he has both locals as out-of-towners as customers.

“Most of them aren’t from Colon, but the Colon people have given me a few options like: Would you give me a ride to Curly’s? Would you go to my house? And, yeah I’d do that,” he explained of people’s reaction to his service.

amish horse buggy photo
Flickr | puliarf

The small town of Colon in southwestern Michigan is known as the “Magic Capital of the World” because Abbott’s Magic Company — a manufacturer of magic supplies — is located there. The company founders organized an annual magician convention in the 1930s that is still happening today. Residents can now add “home of the world’s first horsedrawn Uber” to the town’s claims to fame.

horse buggy amish photo
Flickr | Jack W. Pearce

Although a ride via horse and buggy is bound to take a bit more time than your average Uber ride would, it doesn’t sound too far off from the concept of horse-drawn carriage rides that people pay top dollar for in major cities like New York and Chicago.

Would you consider taking a ride in the “Amish Uber”?

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About the Author
Kate Streit
Kate Streit lives in Chicago. She enjoys stand-up comedy, mystery novels, memoirs, summer and pumpkin spice anything.

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