Besides taxi, bicycle or squad car, there's now a new safe option that holiday drunks can use to get home: dudes on scooters.
Jeff Seabaugh is the owner of ScooterCrew, a service that dispatches a helmeted, sober, insured dude on a scooter to pick you up at the bar, pack his scooter in your trunk (in a chemically sealed bag) and drive your shit-faced responsible self home.
The Pitch sat down with him to talk about ferrying around drunks.
The Pitch: So where did this idea come from?
Seabaugh: There was a service like this started in London about a year ago. It's enjoyed success even with their rate of public transportation. It's gotten to be socially unacceptable to drive drunk over there.
That's not the case here?
I don't believe people have a real sense that there's real consequences [for drunk driving]. I think there's still a whole mentality that I can just take my chances.
Sort of a throwback to the good old days when a cop would pull you over, notice you were drunk and escort you home?
Or just not pull you over. What's been shocking to me is to see people, particularly after midnight, 1 o'clock in the morning, that are staggering, stumbling drunk and they walk right by us, they walk right by the gentlemen driving cabs and they crawl into their cars and take their chances to get home.
That's pretty scary.
It really is. I assume law enforcement is busy, but it seems to me like it'd be in the best interest to really have tighter controls over that.
Have you ever seen someone so falling-down blotto drunk that you thought maybe you should call the cops rather than let them drive?
The thought had crossed my mind. We had a fellow the other night who engaged us for a ride. After one hour, he couldn't find his car while we were with him, so we put him in a cab, because he couldn't remember where he parked.
What's your typical customer?
Our typical customer seems to be in their 30s, seems to be employed with a decent job. I've been surprised by the amount of women. Women enjoy the service, because, I think they often find cabs to be a little on the creepy side and they like the fact that when they engage with one of our drivers, we walk them to their car.
How far are they going, usually?
A third of our rides are folks who live within three miles of the Country Club Plaza. About a third, probably a little more, are folks who live down the Shawnee Mission Parkway corridor or the Ward Parkway corridor. We have taken one rider out by Worlds of Fun. We've taken another person out by Barry Road, out by the airport, but by and large, our average trip has been about eight miles.
How much does it cost?
It's $10 to get in the car and $3 for a mile. It's more expensive than a cab ride, but less expensive than two cab rides.
And less expensive that hiring a DWI lawyer.
That's right.
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There was a guy doing this in Perth Australia back when I was there with Uncle Sam's Yacht Club in '94. It was a bit hit and the guy was making good money doing it. I'm glad to see it finally make it to KC - it's awfully cheap compared to impound/lawyer fees.
@Nick He mentioned other places that have this service, but I left that info out. The idea isn't novel, but it's new to KC.
He failed to mention this has been being done in St. Louis for the last 5 years.
This is a great idea. Even though I don't think that drunk driving is a big deal most of the time, DUI arrests are expensive so I would use this if I lived in KC. If I had the cash I'd start one of these in Lawrence.
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