Asa Fix
News Reporter

Josh McGuire and his wife have teamed up together to bring a unique designated driver service to Grand Junction. The company is called Zingo.
Zingo boys can be seen riding around the town on orange scooters and wearing their orange turtle backpacks. When someone in need of a ride contacts Zingo, the boys ride their scooters to their destination. When they arrive, they fold up their scooters and put them in a big leak-proof bag and place it in the trunk of their client’s vehicle and drive them and their car home.
“The nice thing is that you and your vehicle get home safe and you don’t have to worry about it the next morning,” McGuire said.
With only two scooters at the moment, McGuire said that they only work two to three times a week.
“We usually just hang out in popular areas like the Ale house and give people rides home,” McGuire said.
The scooters that Zingo riders use are environmentally friendly and get approximately 130 miles to the gallon. McGuire is looking at purchasing two electric scooters in the next month, that way they won’t have to worry about gas. By next summer, McGuire expects to have eight to 10 scooters on the road.
The idea of a scooter-driven designated driver service originated when McGuire and his wife were in Rapid City, S.D. a couple of years ago for a wedding. They learned about a scooter service driving people and their cars home. McGuire said he could not believe that a town like Grand Junction, which is bigger than Rapid City, didn’t have a service like that.
Senior Shawn Grant is a driver for Zingo.
“Everywhere we go people are yelling for us,” said Grant. “It’s been really successful and people love the idea. The nice thing is that we can drive people all the way back to Fruita, Orchard Mesa, Clifton and Palisade.”
Grant, 22, usually just works on Saturday nights and looks forward to it every week.
“It’s fun riding a scooter around,” he said. “I could be at parties on Saturdays but instead, I just drive the scooter around and be a designated driver for people who need it.”
Zingo charges $5 for the first mile and $3 for every mile after that. You can also see the Zingo boys on Thursday nights at the Mesa Theatre and Club for college night. Mesa State students get a one-mile off discount, so you save $3.
If you are looking for a way to make some extra money, McGuire is always looking for good employees. If you are interested in applying or if you need a ride home give Zingo a call at 970.256.ZING.
u
ajfix@mesastate.edu