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Thomas Mahoney might be able to save you from getting a DUI, or at least a long walk home.
Mahoney, a construction management technology senior from Dallas, is pedaling people around campus and Stillwater if you can catch him for a ride on his bicycle taxi.
“I started the first half of the Grambling game,” Mahoney said. “It was slow, so I started giving my friends rides around campus and that seemed to generate a lot more business. I was busy until 11:30 that night.”
Mahoney said he has not come into this business by chance. His older brother, Daniel Mahoney, instilled a passion for bicycling in him and brought him into the bicycle taxi business.
Mahoney started working as a bicycle mechanic at 14, filling the spot vacated by his older brother when he moved to college. While in college, his brother started their bicycle taxi business.
“He [Daniel] was going to school at Mississippi State University, and he built one of these carts that can be pulled behind a bicycle. Then he started giving rides during football games,” Mahoney said. “It got to be so popular that he had friends start helping him and eventually he built a couple more.”
The carts are welded together with steel tubing and grating for the floor board. The seat flips up for storage and is wide enough for three average-sized adults to sit snuggly. The cart’s weight limit has been tested a few times, as has Mahoney’s endurance in giving the rides.
“I have given a lot of back and forth rides, and those are easy. Taking people from the game or tailgate, to their cars and back,” Mahoney said. “I have even had three grown adults and two small children in their laps for a ride around the parking lot.”
Mahoney said the heaviest group he traveled with weighed 750 pounds.
He has set some boundaries and limits to what he will and won’t do.
He set geographic boundaries from Hall of Fame Avenue to the north, and 12th Avenue to the south, Western Road to the west and Perkins Road to the east.
“This way I can give more people rides if I am going to be doing this for a while,” Mahoney said.
He said he is not going to do it during school days while class is in session.
Mahoney said a person has to be in good shape to undertake a job like this. He runs a few miles a day and is also president of the OSU Polo Club. He said the bicycle taxi business is a “natural fit.”
Mahoney might start doing it on The Strip on the nights he isn’t studying if a need arises.
He has thought about offering rides on those nights as an alternative to people getting in their cars and driving while intoxicated.
“It is a nice thing to do,” Mahoney said. “I have given quite a few of my friends rides to their houses as they have left the bars. I am not crazy about giving them rides to their cars though.”
Christine Harris, an international business and finance junior, has been Mahoney’s passenger before.
Harris said Thomas picked her up, took her to The Barn and home. His reward was a Barn soda.
Mahoney has given of himself as much as he can in certain situations. He has given free rides to friends and children but cites one instance in particular.
“I was pedaling along and saw a handicapped person who was having noticeable difficulty walking, even with someone helping them,” Mahoney said.
“So I stopped and offered them a ride to their car. They offered to pay me, but I told them it was free of charge.”
Mahoney is the only locally owned bicycle taxi service in Stillwater.
“There are a couple of brothers that come up for game days from the (Oklahoma) City, but they aren’t from here, and I am not sure what they charge,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney does all of his own building and maintenance on the taxi and bike, which keeps his costs way down. He doesn’t charge a set fee for anything and works for tips.
6 comments
Way to go Thomas!