An Amish man hailing from the Colon village in Michigan has launched his own ride-hailing service of sorts which relies on a horse and buggy. He’s got a fun name for it, Timothy Hochstedler is calling his service “Amish Uber.” It’s nothing more than a horse-drawn carriage for hire and for $5, Hochstedler will take riders across the Amish area in a carriage that’s pulled by a Morgan horse.
Given that the Amish culture is resistant to modern technology, he’s not using an app that will let people hail his carriage. It’s actually got nothing in common with Uber since there’s no app and riders don’t need phones. They just wave it down when they see it, like they used to hail horse-drawn carriages in the old days before cars were a thing.
Hochestedler himself isn’t an Uber driver or employee. He just has an understanding of the developments in modern transport and is using that knowledge. “Uber is the cool thing,” he told local CBS affiliate WWMT, adding that “Uber’s hot right now, so we have the Amish Uber buggies, and just go and deliver people to their front door steps.”
It’s unclear how Uber feels about its branding being used in this context but since the company doesn’t offer its services in Colon village, Hochestedler’s little enterprise may not be on the ride-hailing giant’s radar just yet.