Alaska News

Hey Anchorage, need a ride home on New Year's Eve?

It's best to have a plan when it comes to New Year's Eve: Where to go, what to do and how to get home. This year in Anchorage, according to KTVA, two programs can help out with the latter.

"Off the Road" is a year-round service to encourage safe driving decisions in Anchorage. For this weekend's New Year's Eve festivities, the service will offer rides along with a new "Tipsy Tow" option. Both programs are designed to provide drivers who may have had a little too much to drink with a safe option for getting home free of charge. Here's how it works:

  • "Off the Road," run by the Anchorage Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant and Retailers Association (CHARR), uses taxis to deliver impaired drivers home safely and, best of all, it's free. A full list of participating area bars and restaurants, along with more information, can be viewed here.
  • "Tipsy Tow" is a new program sponsored by CHARR for the holiday season. "Tipsy Tow" offers drivers and their cars a ride home via AAA and Vulcan Towing. "Tipsy Tow" truck drivers will come and pick up your car and tow it home while you ride shotgun. This service will be provided free of charge until Jan. 1, 2013.

"We've worked very hard to get the word out that it's much cheaper to take a cab, it's safer for everyone involved, than it is to get a DWI. The expenses are tremendous," Darwin Biwer, owner of the downtown bar Darwin's Theory and a member of Anchorage CHARR, told KTVA.

More than 200 bars and restaurants around town participate in CHARR's "Off the Road" program. CHARR pays for the towing and the taxis. Read more.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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