Students can get a free ride home after a night of heavy partying, thanks to AAA Yellow Cab.
AAA Yellow Cab's "Free Ride Back Program" helps drivers get back to their cars the morning after taking a cab ride home from a night of drinking.
The drivers must pay for their cab fare home but get a free ride back to their cars.
"One of people's biggest fear is getting back to their car," said AAA Yellow Cab general manager Van Means.
The program, which has been in existence for about three years, offers rides to about 50 to 60 people a week, Means said.
Means did not know how many of the program's clients are ASU students.
The "Free Ride Back Program" operates year round and is used very commonly during the holidays, Means said.
The intersection of University Drive and Mill Avenue is a busy area for the program, averaging 20 people per week, Means said.
ASU religious studies graduate student Shelly Smith said the program sounds like a great idea.
"Most people don't want to pay for two cab rides," Smith said. "It's just not something you think about when you're drunk."
In order to benefit from the program, a person must pick up their car within 24 hours.
Those who take advantage of the program must leave from the location they were dropped off the night before and return to the same place they were picked up, Means said.
Also, they cannot return the same day they were picked up.
"We want to make sure they are sobered up," Means said.
AAA Yellow Cab employees have a global positioning system that can tell that a person was picked up and dropped off at certain locations. It is used to verify the locations for the free ride later.
Computer information systems senior Scott Harris said he thought the idea of getting one ride free would help.
"It think this is very effective," Harris said. "When people go out, they spend all their money, they don't have cab money. Taxi cabs are expensive."
Reach the reporter at katherine.ruark@asu.edu.
