New Year’s Eve revelers can get a free taxi ride home Thursday night. The Juneau/Lynn Canal CHARR has spent about $100,000 since 2005 on the Safe Ride Home Program.
About 26 vehicles will pick people up from 14 participating establishments.
“If you’re downtown where the majority of our establishments are, we’re going to have cabs and vans with green flashing lights and signs that say ‘Free Cab Ride’. Get in one of those cabs or vans and they will take you home,” said Leeann Thomas, owner of the Triangle Club Bar and a member of Juneau/Lynn Canal Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retailers Association.
Free rides will also be provided from locations in Douglas and the Mendenhall Valley.
The program has grown over the years. When it first started on New Year’s Eve 2005, Safe Ride provided about 440 free lifts home.
“Last year on New Year’s, we did 727 rides so we would love to do 1,000 rides this New Year’s, but if we’re above 727 rides, we’re going to be happy,” Thomas said.
Free rides home are available from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. If you can’t find a taxi or van with a flashing green light, ask a bartender or server at a participating establishment to call one for you.
For those unable to utilize the Safe Ride program, Juneau Police Lt. David Campbell advises people to plan ahead for a designated driver or call a taxi.
He also says to use common sense around fireworks. The use of fireworks is legal in Juneau, but Campbell said how they’re used could violate other laws, like disturbing the peace.
“If a person is on their back porch and they’re lighting off really loud fireworks in a densely populated area, there’s a good chance they’re probably disturbing somebody. If they’re doing it out the road and there isn’t really anybody around, then the likelihood of you disturbing someone is going to be a lot less,” Campbell said.
Historically, JPD receives many reports of fireworks on New Year’s Eve, which officers do respond to.
The department will have up to nine officers on duty; usually only four work on a Thursday evening.
