App sends designated driver to get partygoers — and their cars — home safely
Date Posted:
Mon, Dec 8 2014,
New York Daily News
Come to think of it, I will have that eighth eggnog!
The holiday season is a time of alcoholic excess. But now you can let the good times roll — and roll home in your own car — thanks to BeMyDD, a new cab service that dispatches a driver to meet you at the scene of your debauchery and drive you and your vehicle back to safety.
“The biggest reason people drive drunk is because they drove to some party and thought, ‘I’ll only have one drink,’ but then have a good time and don’t want to deal with retrieving the car the next day,” says BeMyDD CEO Arthur Simanovsky. “If a person thinks ahead and makes a plan, he doesn’t need us.”
Indeed, anyone with money to burn can hire a limo or hail cabs for a night of carousing. But what of someone who drives to a big party with angelic intentions only to find himself wearing the punchbowl at night’s end?
To find out, I downloaded the BeMyDD app, entered in the relevant data, hopped into my sweet 1998 Mazda, and set out for a Caligulan night at a friend’s holiday party, knowing that my designated driver was all set.
And this was a great party! To say the wine flowed like water is an insult to the loose viscosity of water. And wine led to whiskey, and whiskey led to other inebriants. There were drinking games and, naturally, drinking playoff games. By the end of the night, I was in no condition to walk, let alone drive, home.
The BeMyDD app lets partygoers avoid any DWI or 'Dude, Where’s My Car' disasters. Fortunately, I had pulled out my phone mid-Glenlivet and texted Zach Rebb, my BeMyDD driver: “Debauchery concluding in one hour.” Exactly 60 minutes later, Rebb was waiting at my car, where he took my keys, opened the rear door and helped me inside.
Off we went. My address was already in the BeMyDD system, so 20 minutes later, I was home. Total cost: $25 plus $3.45 per mile, or just shy of $50.
Fifty dollars for a single ride home is a lot — roughly twice the price of a yellow cab. But hailing a street hack wouldn’t solve the problem of dealing with my car the morning after.
There’s no legitimate excuse for drunken driving — the single biggest preventable cause of traffic accidents — but the most comprehensive study of the subject reveals that dealing with the car is the biggest cause of driving under the influence.
The guy who treated me to the weekend Bacchanal knew that from personal experience.
“I had driven to a party, got drunk, but needed the car the next day, so I drove home,” said my party host, who requested anonymity. “A $300 DWI ticket and a license suspension later, I learned my lesson.”
Rebb said most of his customers are fancy people with really nice cars, which I immediately saw as a snub of my 16-year-old Mazda with 120,000 miles.
“They like going out and partying with their own vehicles,” said Rebb, a professional driver and New York salt who reminded me fondly of cabbies of old. “They don’t mind spending $50 to get home. But they don’t want to spend $500 for a driver all night.”
BeMyDD says the pick-up service, which is available in 76 cities nationwide, is one-third of the company’s overall livery business, but growing.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want you to drive drunk,” Simanovsky said.
The holiday season is a time of alcoholic excess. But now you can let the good times roll — and roll home in your own car — thanks to BeMyDD, a new cab service that dispatches a driver to meet you at the scene of your debauchery and drive you and your vehicle back to safety.
“The biggest reason people drive drunk is because they drove to some party and thought, ‘I’ll only have one drink,’ but then have a good time and don’t want to deal with retrieving the car the next day,” says BeMyDD CEO Arthur Simanovsky. “If a person thinks ahead and makes a plan, he doesn’t need us.”
Indeed, anyone with money to burn can hire a limo or hail cabs for a night of carousing. But what of someone who drives to a big party with angelic intentions only to find himself wearing the punchbowl at night’s end?
To find out, I downloaded the BeMyDD app, entered in the relevant data, hopped into my sweet 1998 Mazda, and set out for a Caligulan night at a friend’s holiday party, knowing that my designated driver was all set.
And this was a great party! To say the wine flowed like water is an insult to the loose viscosity of water. And wine led to whiskey, and whiskey led to other inebriants. There were drinking games and, naturally, drinking playoff games. By the end of the night, I was in no condition to walk, let alone drive, home.
The BeMyDD app lets partygoers avoid any DWI or 'Dude, Where’s My Car' disasters. Fortunately, I had pulled out my phone mid-Glenlivet and texted Zach Rebb, my BeMyDD driver: “Debauchery concluding in one hour.” Exactly 60 minutes later, Rebb was waiting at my car, where he took my keys, opened the rear door and helped me inside.
Off we went. My address was already in the BeMyDD system, so 20 minutes later, I was home. Total cost: $25 plus $3.45 per mile, or just shy of $50.
Fifty dollars for a single ride home is a lot — roughly twice the price of a yellow cab. But hailing a street hack wouldn’t solve the problem of dealing with my car the morning after.
There’s no legitimate excuse for drunken driving — the single biggest preventable cause of traffic accidents — but the most comprehensive study of the subject reveals that dealing with the car is the biggest cause of driving under the influence.
The guy who treated me to the weekend Bacchanal knew that from personal experience.
“I had driven to a party, got drunk, but needed the car the next day, so I drove home,” said my party host, who requested anonymity. “A $300 DWI ticket and a license suspension later, I learned my lesson.”
Rebb said most of his customers are fancy people with really nice cars, which I immediately saw as a snub of my 16-year-old Mazda with 120,000 miles.
“They like going out and partying with their own vehicles,” said Rebb, a professional driver and New York salt who reminded me fondly of cabbies of old. “They don’t mind spending $50 to get home. But they don’t want to spend $500 for a driver all night.”
BeMyDD says the pick-up service, which is available in 76 cities nationwide, is one-third of the company’s overall livery business, but growing.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want you to drive drunk,” Simanovsky said.