Street-legal Zamboni is like an Uber for Bolts fans on game days

TAMPA, Fla. - When the Lightning team rolls back into town for Game 3, fans could take the opportunity to hop on a Zamboni to head to Amalie Arena.

You may have already seen it around downtown Tampa before a regular-season game – it's called the Tampa Bay Ice Box. 

The brains behind it, Mark Farrell, didn’t just take a Zamboni from the ice and headed out on the road. It’s two different vehicles, combined as one.

"This actually goes on the road. It’s completely street-legal. We can take it anywhere around the U.S. if we want to," he explained during a visit on Good Day Tampa Bay. "We tried to license a Zamboni by itself but the state wouldn’t do it so we came up with the idea of taking a van, slicing off the back and placing a full Zamboni on back of that."

Because of this, he says it is the only Zamboni on the road in the entire country. 

"There’s never been one licensed ever," Farrell said.

And it belongs to Bolts fan.

The Tampa Bay Ice Box picks up fans about an hour and a half before a home game, starting at the Pour House at Grand Central on Kennedy Boulevard. They make their way along Morgan Street. If they’re full, they drop off the fans at Amalie Arena. 

If not, they head over to Franklin Street. Then, they repeat the route.

"Every time, we get about 14 people we go to the arena," Farrell explained. "We get about five runs in before the game starts. We got great music that plays. We got a horn that blows. We take them all to the game for free. We ask them as they get off to support the three charities that we support with this project."

Those three charities are: OnBikes, which provides bikes to underprivileged children; Restoring Refuge, which provides services to young ladies previously trapped in human trafficking; and Lighthouse Ministries, which provides homes to the homeless.

LINK: For more information, visit Tampabayicebox.com.