JOHNSTOWN — The Fulton County Traffic Safety Board is again teaming up with a local taxi service for its New Year’s Eve Free Taxi Ride Program on county streets and roads Tuesday night through Wednesday morning.
Every year, the Traffic Safety Board sponsors and contracts with Gloversville-based Glove City Taxi — Fulton County’s largest taxi service — to encourage responsibility and ensure safe New Year’s Eve fun.
“We’re hoping that people utilize the [free] rides and start a habit of not drinking and driving as a new year’s resolution,” board Board Chairwoman Margaret Luck said Thursday.
The way Fulton County’s New Year’s Eve Free Taxi Ride Program works is the public can call Glove City Taxi on New Year’s Eve from approximately midnight to 4 a.m. Wednesday to get a free taxi ride home.
The phone number to call this year will be: (518) 773-7998.
The program is for holiday revelers anywhere in Fulton County, but the stipulation is the caller can’t ask for a ride to another house party or bar. This final ride of the night must be to home. The program represents a one-time ride home for those who choose to drink alcohol to celebrate on New Year’s Eve.
“We’re trying to get people to utilize it to be safe to kick off the new year,” Fulton County District Attorney Chad Brown said Thursday.
Brown noted the county has received “amazing” results from this program in keeping people safe over the years.
The program is run specifically through the county STOP-DWI Program, administered by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Brown says Glove City Taxi often goes “above and beyond” to get people safely home on New Year’s Eve in Fulton County.
The free ride program has been run for over 25 years and prevents many potential drinking and driving accidents in the county, officials say. The program was first established as a way to prevent several New Year’s Eve fatalities that occurred in the 1980s, officials say.
The program has provided safe rides home to thousands of New Year’s Eve partiers over the years.
Michael Anich covers Johnstown and Fulton County news. He can be reached at [email protected]
