Marty McFly probably didn’t need a time machine to predict that where there’s a popular, revered movie franchise, there will be plenty of publicity stunts staged around it. As Oct. 21 approaches — the date Marty and Doc traveled to in Back to the Future: II — companies are falling all over themselves to get a piece of the attention, offering flux capacitors, commemorative Pepsi Perfect sodas and more. This time it’s Verizon and Lyft, who have joined forces to offer New York City passengers free rides in a DeLorean DMC-12 for the day.

Lyft, Universal and Verizon are all on board for the promotion, which will be available from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday — aka “Back to the Future Day” — and won’t cost a thing. You’ve also got the ability to request to go forward or back in time, at which point my guess is the driver tells you to shut your eyes and says, “Now imagine you traveled through time!”

Of course, that ride will only be free if you can manage to get one — The Verge spoke to a company spokeswoman who said Lyft is bringing in DMC-12s from “all over the country” to try to meet expected demand. An exact number of vehicles wasn’t provided, but it’ll be less than 6,500 because that is estimated to be the total amount of original DMC-12s ever made.

Publicity stunt? Yes, completely and totally. But hey, it’s also a free ride in a DeLorean on Back to the Future Day.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.