The company that owns the blue bubble-shaped bicycle taxis that have been pedaling students around campus for the past two weeks says it wants nothing more than to give students rides to class.

The rides are free - provided passengers listen to a spiel about Chase Bank's +1 credit program. If students don't want to listen, fine. If the drivers are able to deliver passengers to the credit program, all the better for them.

BicyTaxi is a New York City-based company that uses the bicycle buggy to compete with traditional taxicabs in the Manhattan area. Though the company normally charges for rides, BicyTaxi often contracts out its vehicles to corporations across the country as promotional tools.

The free rides secure captive audiences for corporate spiels. In Ann Arbor, they hawk Chase credit cards.

Chase has partnered with Facebook.com to publicize a Facebook group named "Chase +1."

Students can apply for the credit card on the Facebook group's webpage. If they provide their address, all group members receive a plastic Chase +1 wallet and are eligible to earn "karma points" by participating in activities and contests. The points can be traded in for merchandise such as T-shirts, iPods, the second season of "Lost" on DVD and the game Twister.

The taxis cart students around campus from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and plan to continue through Nov. 2.

BicyTaxi is staging simultaneous promotions on 25 other campuses, including New York University and Boston University.

The advertising partnership is the brainchild of Noise Marketing, Chase's student-focused marketing division. The agency develops ads targeted at young adults.

To Noise Marketing CEO Noah Kerner, bike taxis seemed an appropriate method to promote the credit program because a free ride with a friend "captures the essence of Chase +1."

The link between the two might not be intuitive, but the futuristic rickshaws have garnered attention.

Parked at their base at the corner of North University Avenue and Fletcher Street, the contraptions turn the heads of passersby.

"(People) look at us like we're Martians when we ride around," said Aaron Morrell, a BicyTaxi operator who graduated from Michigan State University last year.

Much of the time, students walk past the row of bike-and-carriages, giving them little more than a puzzled glance. Many students refuse offers of rides and leave the BicyTaxi drivers idling.

Others have warmed to the concept.

"It's an interesting idea," LSA junior Megan Polich said. "It seems sort of like Ann Arbor to try experimental transportation."

One group of students - Business School sophomore Adam Blanck and LSA freshmen Marissa Dangovian and Ashley Simmons - took advantage of the promotion Thursday morning.

Trying the service for the first time, the three crowded into the two-person back seat, anxious to avoid walking in the dreary weather.

"We're cold, hungry and our books are heavy," Dangovian said.

As for the endorsement pitch they were about to endure, Simmons said, "I'll just tell him I already have it."