Birmingham’s Vodka & Ale House is hoping a new initiative will help get their customers home safe.
The local pub introduced Birmingham’s Safe Ride Services on it’s Facebook page on Dec. 23. The pub has a seven passenger van which runs from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Customers just need to request it, get their names on a queue and wait for the driver to contact them. The service is completely free of charge.
“We want to make sure there’s a ride for everybody and nobody feels they have to push themselves to get home,” owner Chad Zipchian said.
Zipchian said they cover all of the expenses and have hired a full-time driver for the service.
Zipchian said the program has been two years in the making.
They wanted to create it to have a service like it available all year long, instead of just around the holidays.
Saskatchewan will be introducing new laws when it comes to impaired driving on Jan. 1, 2017.
“It kind of gave us that push to say ‘listen guys, lets get in there and get this done’ and really provide some awareness,” Zipchian said. “This really could be something that becomes a normality in the service industry.”
The plan is to eventually extend the program to their Saskatoon location in about a month.