COUNTY RIDE PROGRAM SEES DROP IN NUMBERS.

Byline: PHAEDRA HAYWOOD

Nonworking phone number, increased costs, lack of publicity conspire to reduce participation

By Phaedra Haywood

The New Mexican 

Drunk? Need a ride? Got five bucks? In case you didn't know, Santa Fe County's year-old Chauffeur and Designated Driver program is still operating, ready to give you a ride from 5:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. every Friday and Saturday night.

But calling the program's telephone number

(995-9528) lately has been a waste of time.

County anti-DWI program coordinator Rebecca Beardsley said this week she wasn't aware that callers seeking a ride through the CADDy program have been getting a recording that tells them "example administrator is not available."

Beardsley said she would address the problem immediately, although the problem hadn't been fixed as of Thursday evening.

In the meantime, you can contact Capital City Cab directly (438-0000) and tell the driver at the beginning of the ride that you want the CADDy rate.

The program is aimed at reducing drunken driving. Rides were free when Santa Fe County started the program last summer. But it proved so popular -- costing about $24,000 in the first three months -- that the county started charging a $5 fee for the service.

Since then, participation

has dropped. Over the past

10 months, the county has paid out only about $12,000 for rides.

One cab driver, who didn't want his name published, said the phone number given out by the county hasn't worked for quite some time. "That number is totally useless," he said. "All it does is make people think there isn't a ride. The other thing is, they have no advertising. Nobody knows about it unless they hear about it from a bartender or a friend."

While the county's phone system has had some problems this year, Beardsley said the program has been advertised in local papers and on the radio.

Once people learn about the service and connect with the cab company, the driver said, the program is a good one.

"We'll drive them to the bar and back for about the cost of a beer," he said. "It works and it's cheaper than incarcerating people."

Santa Fe County has provided 2,931 rides in the past year, Beardsley said.

People can use the service to get to a bar or any other destination and home again. The only restriction is that the journey must begin or end at a residence or hotel, an effort to prevent people from using the service for bar hopping.

The flat $5 fee is good for trips inside city limits. Residents who live outside the city must pay the metered cab fare from the city limits.

Noah Berke, a 25-year-old who lives near Interstate 25, said he's used the service about 10 times since learning about it from a pamphlet he picked up at a bar. He's used it to go to bars and nightclubs and to get home. Berke said normally a cab ride from downtown to his house costs about $25, including tip. "It's a great option for people not to drive if they've had anything to drink," he said.

Beardsley said WilLee's Blues Club, The Cowgirl and Fusion nightclub top the list of places where CADDy riders get dropped off or picked up.

Nothing prevents non-drinkers from using the program. Beardsley said riders have also used the service go to Wal-Mart, the movies, the bowling alley, St. John's College and even to the hospital emergency room.

Thomas Blanch, who lives on lower Agua Fra Road, said he has used the service about 20 times in the past year. Even after he quit drinking in May, the 38-year-old said, he used the service to get home from his graveyard shift job in a state government job.

"I think it's a fantastic idea, and I wish more people would use it," Blanch said, "because I know we have a DWI problem here. A lot of folks go out and they know they are going to drink but they drive anyway, and that costs a lot more than $5. You could hurt or kill somebody if you are behind the wheel and you have a couple of drinks. [ETH] I only wish they did it Sunday through Thursday as well."

Beardsley said her department can't afford to fund daily service. Money for Santa Fe County's anti-DWI efforts, including the CADDy program, comes from a state tax on liquor sales. Santa Fe County's program gets about $1.1 million a year from the tax.

In addition to subsidizing cab fares, that money pays for counseling for people convicted of DWI, the training, benefits and salaries for her department's staff of eight and two DWI prevention officers in the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department.

Sgt. Joe McLaughlin of the sheriff's department said it's hard to measure the effect the program is having. DWI arrests actually have increased since the program started, he said. But McLaughlin noted that the sheriff's office has about eight more officers on the streets making arrests than it did before.

"Do I believe it's working?" he said. "Yeah I do. Because anyone that uses it is one less potentially impaired driver, so that reduces by one person the chance of a motor vehicle crash."

Beardsley said data shows about 78 percent of those who use the service ride from or to an establishment that serves alcohol, but it doesn't bother her that some people use the service when they aren't drinking.

"I don't want it to be seen as something you can only take advantage of if you've had way too much to drink," she said. "It's a way of teaching people to plan ahead and changing the culture."

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or [e-mail]

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