Image: Dropz
If you’ve ever found yourself out of the city at the end of a long lunch, a delicious dinner, or a day of wine tastings, you’ll know that getting home isn’t always straightforward. Booking an Uber or taxi can be tricky, and public transport is often limited, especially late at night or when you’re further out in the region. It’s a familiar challenge in regional destinations like the Barossa Valley. That’s exactly the issue that Barossa locals Mark and Catherine Nacey knew well.
With a love for dining in their local area, over time, the pair became more and more used to the struggle of getting home. And after spending more time at the Otherness wine bar in Angaston, this struggle only grew. After chatting with the Otherness team about the difficulties of getting a taxi and their concerns about guests driving when they shouldn’t, they thought it was time to do something about it.
“Local restaurants were hearing more and more how people can’t get to and from restaurants,” shared Mark. “We’ve also seen it ourselves. For example, we went out on New Year’s Eve and saw people getting caught because they couldn’t get a cab home. We actually had to walk home ourselves, which wasn’t too far, so that was okay.
“But we’ve also seen the other side of it. Both Cath and I are CFS volunteers, and we see what can happen if people decide to drive home when they shouldn’t. When you’re part of that, you sort of realise it’s not great.”
With that in mind, Cath and Mark set out on their latest project. “One day, Cath and I said that in our own time, on weekends when we’re not doing soccer or CFS, maybe we could do something else,” said Mark. “We threw around different ideas, and that’s sort of how it started. We chatted with the guys at Otherness, and here we are.”
To start, Dropz will be working limited hours, mainly Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings, and Saturdays and Sundays, and potentially Sunday evenings as well. They’ll be doing point-to-point pick-up and drop-off services between accommodation and restaurants, back again, or from venue to venue.
Mark says they’re very flexible. Guests can book in advance on their new app or shoot them a call or text, and they’ll help out where they can. “I’d love to eventually have a sort of round-robin system where we go between different wineries or venues on a set route. But at this point, it’s point-to-point with no fixed destinations.”
At the moment, they’ve got a driver, and Mark has just got his accreditation (with Cath soon to follow), and offering trips. They’ve got a car that fits seven plus the driver, but six passengers is probably most comfortable. As for pricing, it’s still up in the air, but Mark says it’ll be similar to taxi pricing.
“It’s not really about making money. It’s more about filling that gap we see in the Barossa and hopefully giving tourists and locals the confidence that they can get to and from venues or restaurants without worrying about transport.”
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