PORT TOWNSEND — The PTeRider, a short-distance taxi service and tour company that uses small electric vehicles, was awarded the Sustainable Future award by the Washington State Main Street Program.
According to PTeRider co-owner Kate Dwyer, the local Port Townsend Main Street Program encouraged her and her husband, Myron Gauger, to apply for the award.
“They seemed to think we had a good chance of winning,” Dwyer said.
Dwyer and Gauger launched PTeRider last year, and their two slow-speed, bright-red electric roadsters could be seen all over downtown last summer, especially during Port Townsend’s many festivals and summer events.
Dwyer and Gauger work as owners, operators, drivers and tour guides for PTeRider.
“We had no previous experience,” said Dwyer in a news release from the Washington State Main Street Program.
“We are artists who took a leap. Anybody with tenacity, a good idea and communication skills can become an entrepreneur, even quite late in life.”
Dwyer said they were inspired after seeing similar services in Portland, Ore., and figured it would be a good addition to Port Townsend due to the city’s limited parking and transit services, especially in uptown and downtown.
However, it wasn’t an easy start since there was no other low-speed electric taxi service in the state of Washington.
“We worked with our legislators to have the regulations amended for the entire state, because we see such value in Port Townsend and other Washington communities being able to provide alternative transportation option,” said Dwyer in the release.
The couple was awarded the Sustainable Future Award at Washington Main Street’s Excellence on Main Street award ceremony April 25 in Ellensburg.
Dwyer and Gauger were not able to attend, but Port Townsend Main Street board members Connie Segal and Sandy Spencer accepted the award on their behalf, according to Mari Mullen, executive director of the Port Townsend Main Street Program.
“Kate and Myron have demonstrated ingenuity in every step they’ve taken since hatching the idea for PTeRiders,” said Breanne Durham, the Washington State Main Street coordinator.
“They have also paved the way for other Washington communities to invest in lively and inviting forms of energy-efficient transportation.”
The couple started their 2017 season in April.
According to Dwyer, the open-air taxi service now runs through downtown and uptown Port Townsend but had to eliminate service to Fort Worden due to battery issues.
The battery dies before it can reach the top of Morgan Hill.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
