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Plenty of Portland drivers are already terrible on the road, and their skills don’t sharpen on New Year’s Eve.
With that in mind, the city of Portland is once again teaming up with regional transit agencies and private ride-hail services for the semi-regular Safe Ride Home program to make sure anyone who goes out to celebrate booze-heavy holidays, including New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day and Mardi Gras, gets home without worrying about parking, road conditions or anything else that makes driving a nightmare.
“Everyone must remain vigilant and use caution to always stay safe on Portland streets—and especially during celebratory holidays,” Portland Bureau of Transportation’s spokeswoman Hannah Schafer said in a statement.
PBOT’s $10 coupons for Uber and Lyft are eligible to download starting Tuesday, Dec. 31, through PBOT’s website while supplies last. TriMet will waive fares on buses, the Portland Streetcar, and MAX trains starting at 8 pm, while C-Tran based in Vancouver, Wash., will waive bus fare starting at 6 pm. Twenty-dollar paper coupons for taxi providers Broadway Cab, Flat Cab, PDX Yellow Cab and Radio Cab are also available at Portland venues participating in Safe Ride Home.
“If you are driving, slow down,” Schafer said. “Slower speeds are proven to reduce crashes and their severity. People who drive slower can stop more quickly to avoid a crash. Driving more slowly also reduces the chance of injury or death when crashes occur.”
D’Amore Law Group, a Portland-area practice with offices in Lake Oswego, Bend and Vancouver, is also running a similar promotion. The law group will reimburse up to $100, up to a 10% tip included, for the first 100 people to submit an eligible one-way ride taken between 5 pm New Year’s Eve and 10 am New Year’s Day, just in case you need to sleep one off. More information on eligible receipts can be found on D’Amore Law Group’s website.