About 32% of all traffic crash fatalities in the United States involve drunk drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Many fatal crashes occur around holidays in December, like New Year’s Eve.
It’s important to plan ahead for a safe and sober ride home if you plan to go on New Year’s Eve and consume alcohol or other substances.
Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft do not offer free rides or discounts for the holiday, but there are some organizations and cities that have promotional codes you can use while booking a ride home to save some money.
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In Virginia, law firm Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen is offering a limited number of $25 Lyft vouchers for riders in the Richmond-area. And for select cities in Florida and Georgia, law firm Farah & Farah has a Safe Ride Home program has redeemable vouchers for free rides home.
AAA offers a "Tipsy Tow" service in California, Utah and Nevada in which anyone can call 1-800-222-4357 and tell the AAA operator, "I need a Tipsy Tow," and a truck will be on its way for a free 10-mile tow. This is available from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Dec. 31 through Jan. 1.
The best advice for finding a free ride home in your city is to check your local public transportation services. Most cities and counties are offering free and extended services for the New Year’s Eve holiday to get citizens home safely.
Here’s what some of the major cities are doing this year:
- Chicago: The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will have free rides on buses and L trains from 10 p.m. New Year's Eve until 4 a.m. Jan. 1.
- Dallas: The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system is offering free rides on buses, rail, TRE commuter rail service, GoLink and paratransit. They will be available beginning at 6 p.m.
- Denver: Free rides will be available through Denver's Regional Transportation District (RTD) bus and rail lines between 7 p.m. New Year's Eve until 7 a.m. New Year's Day.
- Los Angeles: Los Angeles Metro will offer free bus and train rides from 9 p.m. Dec. 31 until 2 a.m. New Year's Day. Micro, the on-demand rideshare service offered by Metro, will also be free when riders use the code “Ring25” on New Year’s Eve.
- New York City: Subway rides will be free from 11:59 p.m. New Year's Eve until 6 a.m. New Year's Day.
- San Diego: San Diego MTS plans to offer free rides on all bus and trolley services on New Year's Eve, with trolley service extended late into the night. Anybody boarding a bus or trolley past 6 p.m. on Dec 31 will not need a fare.
- San Francisco: The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) will provide free rides from 8 p.m. New Year's Eve through 5 a.m. Jan.1. The BART will have extended service hours but will not be free. South of the city, the San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) will also offer free rides starting at 8 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
- Washington, DC: Buses and trains operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority will be free from 8 p.m. New Year's Eve. You can also get a code to use when booking a Lyft ride through the Washington Regional Alcohol Program's (WRAP) SoberRide service.The code will be released on the website at 9 p.m. and will be valid from 10 p.m. through 4 a.m. on Jan. 1.
