Free rides home tonight for New Year’s Eve celebrants
By Kathleen Hilliard
New Year’s Eve is a night meant to be full of celebration and anticipation for the upcoming year, not a night where people lose their lives or endanger the lives of others due to drunken driving.
If one doesn’t have a designated driver for the evening, there is no need to worry about getting home safely.
Jordan Page with Yellow Cab Taxi Company of Lake Charles will be giving out 1,000 free rides from midnight until about 3 a.m. for New Year’s Eve. The free rides are part of the “Safe Ride Home” program to keep people from drinking and driving.
“Basically, a thousand, that means it’s unlimited … the point is to make it that, on New Year’s Eve, no one has the excuse for drinking and driving. It is impossible for you to claim that you didn’t have your ride, you spent all your money and went ahead and drove because you couldn’t take a cab or a Lyft or an Uber, and we’ve made it so nobody in Calcasieu Parish should be hurt by a drunk driver on New Year’s Eve,” said attorney Ron Richard.
The Yellow Cab Taxi Company has partnered with Ron Richard of the Richard Law Firm, LLC in Lake Charles beginning four years ago when Jordan Page approached him about the idea to make this safe driving alternative available.
“You be drinking, we be driving,” said Page, quoting one of the Yellow Cab Taxi Company’s slogans.
Taxi rides will be discounted the entirety of the night and the following day from the usual $15 fare listed on the Yellow Cab website, and are restricted to pick-ups in Lake Charles.
“Basically, a thousand, that means it’s unlimited…the point is to make it that, on New Year’s Eve, no one has the excuse for drinking and driving. It is impossible for you to claim that you didn’t have your ride, or you spent all your money and went ahead and drove because you couldn’t take a cab or a Lyft or an Uber, and we’ve made it so nobody in Calcasieu Parish should be hurt by a drunk driver on New Year’s Eve,” said Richard.
As a father of five, Richard has his personal reasons to be involved in this initiative.
“I hate the fact that on New Year’s Eve, my children—I won’t let them get on the roads…as a parent, you’re paranoid…it got me worked up and got me thinking and I felt that this is one way where we could work towards making that happen—to where people can stop thinking about that and go out and enjoy the New Year!”
These free rides are designated to take passengers home from wherever they may be, and are not going to be used to go bring said passengers to another bar or party once picked up.
“It’s only to take you home, we’re not going to take you to another bar, now. It’s only to take you home,” reiterated Page.
The 24/7 number for the Yellow Cab Taxi Company is 337-433-8282.