Tuk Tuk shuttles coming to downtown Naperville

A new mode of transportation is arriving Friday in Naperville via Thailand and Denver.

Called a Tuk Tuk, the three-wheeled, six-passenger shuttle will make its debut near the North Central College football stadium, where Naperville Central and Naperville North high schools will be playing their crosstown classic game at 7:30 p.m.

Business partners Bill Hamik and Mike Belgio are bringing two of the vehicles to operate in and near downtown Naperville, mainly driving people on short trips from parking to shopping or from the 5th Avenue Metra station to restaurants, the Riverwalk or festivals.

“That's where we fit in — we're the under-a-mile ride,” Hamik said.

The Tuk Tuks will charge each rider $1 or $5 depending on the length of the trip. Riders can hail a Tuk Tuk if they see one passing by, or can use an app or call or text a driver to set up a ride.

“It's a fun vehicle to be in,” Hamik said. “It's just a new way to move around in a short distance.”

Tuk Tuks are street-legal in Illinois and 25 other places such as Denver, Colorado; Austin, Texas; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Pasadena, California, where they're already operating.

But the electric-powered shuttles with chassis built in Thailand only can travel 25 mph and must use streets with speed limits of 35 mph or less. So Hamik said drivers will make heavy use of side streets and stay off the big ones like Washington and Ogden, only crossing them at intersections.

Passengers sit facing each other on the Tuk Tuks, which are equipped by a Denver company with GPS, rain flaps to cover the usually open sides and the capability to display advertising. Hamik and Belgio hope to operate them about 10 months of the year, but they'll take the Tuk Tuks off the road when it's snowing or well below 30 degrees.

Leaders of the Downtown Naperville Alliance called the shuttles “ecologically sensible” and welcomed the new business as one potential way to “optimize the distribution of people around our downtown,” a place where parking often is seen as a problem or a hassle.

Hamik said he knows the service won't relieve all congestion in downtown Naperville, but he hopes it can make people more willing to park farther from their destination, knowing an easy ride is available.