Free cabs offered for New Year's Eve
Police to beef up drunken driving enforcement for holiday
There is never an excuse to drink and drive and this New Year's Eve there is no reason anybody should get behind the wheel drunk in the capital city. Free cab rides are being made available throughout Juneau for the holiday.
The Juneau/Lynn Canal Cabaret, Hotel Restaurant and Retailers Association, or CHARR, is offering its sixth annual "Safe Ride Home" program this New Year's Eve that provides free cab rides throughout the city from 16 different locations.
"The ultimate goal is that everybody stays safe in Juneau on New Year's Eve," said Leeann Thomas, Safe Ride Home chair and owner of the Triangle Club.
The free cab program has continued to grow over the years and this year CHARR is hoping for the most successful one to date, Thomas said.
"Most of the time we hit close to 500" people using the program, she said. "This year I'm really hoping for ... 800, or maybe even a thousand."
The program is also offered on the other big holidays of the year, including Halloween, which saw the program's highest use this past October. There will be 20 cabs available this New Year's Eve provided by Juneau Taxi & Tours, Thomas said.
"We've almost doubled the cabs this year," she said. "I think people are finally finding out about it."
To get a free taxi, people need to ask their bartenders or servers for a ride at one of the 16 locations and the cab will pick them up from there (see info box for the participating locations). The bartenders and servers will call a special phone number to hail Juneau Taxi & Tours, not the main dispatch number.
James Harris, owner of Juneau Taxi & Tours, said it is a good program and he expects this New Year's Eve to be the most successful yet for Safe Ride Home.
"This year I think we are going to make a bigger impact than we ever have before," he said.
The Juneau Police Department is ramping up enforcement tonight for New Year's Eve and will be on the lookout for impaired drivers, Sgt. Dave Campbell said.
"This year, not only is it New Year's Eve, but it falls on a weekend and it's also the end of the decade," he said. "We don't want to give away exact numbers, but there's about a 50 percent increase of our normal weekend rotation that is going to be on the streets on New Year's Eve."
The police will have a pretty good visual presence throughout town and there will be officers patrolling the bars to ensure the revelry stays under control, Campbell said.
"If people go out, they should avail themselves to one of the many opportunities that's available to get home safely, whether it's providing their own designated driver, using a taxi or using one of these taxis that are being chartered by CHARR to get home, because there is going to be some pretty good enforcement," he said.
Tonight is expected to be one of the biggest party nights of the year, Rendezvous bar owner Deb Barry said.
"It's one of the three biggest," she said. "New Year's Eve, Halloween, and the 3rd of July are the three busiest days of the year."
The more people that use the free cab ride program means the more likely it will be funded in the future by local sponsors, Thomas said.
"We really hope everybody goes out and has fun and if you have a couple of drinks, great, but drink responsibly and drive responsibly," she said. "If that means you shouldn't drive then take a cab home."