It was an idea that just popped into their heads. After years of traveling around the world in the Army, two best friends, veterans and Muncie natives decided to bring a touch of their travels to the community they love.
Ball State sophomore Cory Brown and Harrison College freshman Tyler Wright came back to Muncie with purpose: to bring a pedicab service to students. Now they own Doing It Green Pedicab.
The pedicab service is a public-transportation service that operates around downtown Muncie, Ball State campus and along the White River trail as well as at some events.
The business does not have a set price for a ride, instead using a "Trips for Tips" service depending on the weather. DIG Pedicab operates at all times, but mostly during the late night bar hours.
With Ball State efforts towards sustainability and the geothermal project, the duo knew campus was a moving forward with green initiatives.
"If you want to get somewhere fast, you need to call a taxi. If you want a relaxing ride that is a safe alternative, you call us," Wright said.
Brown said the entire project is about efforts to change lifestyles and create a green community.
"The environment aspect is great because we always try to promote green lifestyle, and we even worked at the Living Lightly Fair last month," Brown said.
Vivian Bogue, president of Students for Sustainable Campus, said the Pedicab is a good way to limit car use on campus. After using them in California, she said she is glad they are at Ball State.
"I used to ride them downtown when I lived in San Diego," she said. "It's fantastic, because it reduces people's carbon footprint and it makes a safer campus."
Brown served in Iraq in infantry and Wright spent a year in Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the military police. While traveling the world, they saw many large cities offer the pedicab service and wondered how well it would work back at their home in Muncie.
"We choose Muncie because we are from here and we wanted a change," Wright said. "Pedicabs are prominent in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, and we want to thrive on the college campus. It's been a long time coming for Muncie to have this business, and we want the trend to continue.
"From the day we thought of the idea to the day we started the business, it was only three months."
So far, Brown and Wright are happy with the business. They started during the summer, waiting for students to come back to campus. Since then, they have had a huge increase in customers.
While the business will hibernate in the winter, the owners said they would be back as soon as snow is off the ground. They hope to grow the business beyond Muncie, taking it to other large universities around the state.
"We are not trying to go national, but we would like to have four or five operations in Indiana within five years," Wright said.
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