Safe Ride Home: Tipsy Tow Offers Free Rides to New Years Drinkers

AAA's Tipsy Tow Program will be available this weekend in an effort to help reduce the number of DUIs and alcohol-related deaths on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

The program offers a free tow — and a ride home — for drivers who overindulge. Northern California drivers can call for a tow from 6 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday.

To get a ride, call 1-800-222-4357 (AAA-HELP), and tell the operator that you need a Tipsy Tow. The operator will send the next available tow truck to the location you provide.

AAA isn't the only company helping to keep drunken motorists off the roads.

A few Bay Area public transit agencies are offering free rides on New Year's Eve to encourage people to take public transit to get to festivities around the region.

Rides on San Francisco Municipal Railway, Caltrain and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority vehicles will all be free from the night of Dec. 31 to the early morning hours of Jan. 1.

Trips on Muni buses and light-rail vehicles will be complimentary from 8 p.m. on Dec. 31 to 6 a.m. on Jan. 1.

San Francisco's waterfront is crowded each New Year's Eve because of a city-sponsored fireworks show that starts at midnight on a barge off of The Embarcadero.

For people leaving the fireworks show or other festivities in the city, special Muni Metro service will run until 2:15 a.m. between Fourth and King streets and the West Portal Station, and until 4 a.m. between West Portal and the Embarcadero stations.There will also be extra service on Muni's Owl overnight routes, the 5, 14, 22, 24, 38, 90, 91, L and N bus lines.

Caltrain is offering free rides after 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve, and will run trains from San Francisco until 2:15 a.m. on Jan. 1.

VTA bus and light-rail service will be free as well between 7 p.m. and 3:59 a.m., with extended hours offered for its light-rail service and an express bus line that takes customers to the Fremont BART station.

Trips on BART will not be free, but the agency will provide additional service on New Year's Eve, running trains until 3 a.m.

After 8 p.m., to minimize crowding at the two stations closest to the San Francisco fireworks show, certain trains will not stop at the Embarcadero station, and others will not stop at the Montgomery station.

For more information about public transit options in the Bay Area on New Year's Eve, visit www.sfmta.com, www.bart.gov, www.caltrain.com or www.vta.org.

--Bay City News and Alexis Fitts