‘Can't put a price on human life’: BernCo offers New Year’s partiers discount on sober rides

If states had New Year’s resolutions, one of New Mexico’s would likely be to stay off of “worst states for drunk driving” lists in 2025.

Fortunately, some of its largest counties, Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe, have partnered with Cumulus Media once again to give vouchers to those ringing in the New Year with a few drinks.

The Take a Ride on Us program is running from now until 2 a.m. Thursday, Jan 2, offering those who need a sober ride home an Uber voucher with the code “NMNYE24” for $10 off two trips. The maximum number of vouchers for the New Year’s campaign is 2,500.

Drinking and driving is a significant problem in New Mexico, with 40% of fatal traffic crashes involving alcohol, and 8,329 DWI arrests in 2023, according to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.

But ringing in the New Year behind the wheel and after a few drinks is a national problem. In 2022, 37% of traffic fatalities during the New Year’s holiday period were due to an impaired driver, according to the National Safety Council.

The Take a Ride on Us program was created in 2017 after Bernalillo County got rid of its complimentary Tavern Taxi service due to funding issues.

“When we found out that happened, we got together with New Mexico Department of Transportation and their ENDWI program over a conversation … we thought, ‘Look, this program, the Tavern Taxi, has gone away. What can we do in the community to try and pick that back up?’ Jason Martinez, director of sales for Cumulus Media, told the Journal on Friday.

“We came up with the idea of ‘Take a Ride on Us.’ It was drawn up on a napkin over a quick conversation,” Martinez said.

Seven years later, Cumulus Media has spent $515,000 on 51,000 rides, $465,000 of which has been spent in Bernalillo County.

The rides aren’t just offered for New Year’s celebrations, as the vouchers are offered around other holidays such as Christmas, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, as well as around big local events like the Balloon Fiesta or to and from Lobos or United games.

“Bernalillo County contributes $80,000 to this annual effort. The county’s financial contribution comes from liquor excise taxes — additional taxes that New Mexico retailers and consumers pay when purchasing alcohol,” Estevan Vásquez, a spokesperson for Bernalillo County, said in a statement.

Incentives and education locally are what keep Erica Abeyta, Bernalillo County Behavioral Health Services Community Program manager, hopeful New Mexicans won’t drive impaired.

“This really does incentivize getting home safe and we know money is tight for folks,” Abeyta said. “It’s been a very successful program.”

Abeyta believes that the Take a Ride on Us program is essential to keeping the streets safe and the funding is crucial.

“At the end of the day, you can’t put a price on human life, and so we really do wanna make sure that folks, if they choose to consume alcohol, do have that plan again to get home safe,” Abeyta said.