Getting Around the Bubbl

While services like Uber and Lyft have become regular forms of transit for Dallas residents, a new car service drove into the area Aug. 22 with one goal in mind: safety.

Bubbl is the brainchild of Paul Adams, Alex Miller, Zane Butter, and Dallas ISD police chief Craig Miller, who felt the community needed a car service that ensured safety for everyone.

The service was designed for residents of “the bubble” — the Park Cities and Preston Hollow. It also serves Uptown and some of Lakewood. Only retired or active police officers can drive Bubbl cars, and all employees must undergo drug tests and background screening.

The company owns and insures all its cars and currently employs more than 65 drivers. The cars, with their big blue bubbles on top, are recognizable throughout the community.

Cameras are mounted inside and outside each vehicle, documenting every ride. If there is an accident, cameras will have a record of everything up to the moment of impact.

Riders have to schedule a pick up at least twenty minutes in advance, and driver availability varies depending on the day. Holidays are often busier than normal.

After creating a Bubbl account on the website bubbl-dallas.com, riders can schedule the time and place of their pickup, along with their destination. Since the service also caters to children, ages 8 and up, parents are able to add specific details to the ride.

“If little Mary needs to be picked up on field 5 at the soccer fields, they will put the individual comments in there to instruct the driver,” said Adams. “Because we will escort a child whether it’s through a pick up or getting out of the car to get them.”

Parents will receive text notifications when a child’s trip is starting and ending.

Bubbl accommodates senior citizens and passengers with special needs. The creators have tried to make their service convenient for everyone, “whether it’s someone in Uptown who had a little too much to drink and doesn’t feel safe driving home, or a senior citizen who wants to go to bible study at the local church but is in a wheelchair and can’t drive themselves,” Adams said.

Elizabeth Moundas, a Bubbl customer, says she uses it to pick up her kids, ages 12 and 15, when she can’t be in two places at once.

“I mainly use it to get my kids to their after-school activities,” Moundas said. “As a mother, I feel it is safe and reliable, and knowing that an off-duty officer is the driver it just adds a sense of comfort.”

Bubbl serves a four-mile radius around its centerpoint at Preston Road and McFarlin Boulevard. Bubbl will also travel to specific places outside the area such as Dallas Love Field. The car service is slowly starting to expand throughout the Dallas area; future destinations will include the Dallas Arboretum and the Plano Parkway area. Adams has high hopes that the company will slowly start to make its way to other parts of the nation.

“It is currently in Dallas now, but we are planning to expand nationally,” Adams said. “Hopefully to other Bubbl-like communities.”

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