Gearing up for the holidays: How you — and your car — can get home safely

If you're raising a glass of holiday cheer this season, Winnipeg police are encouraging you to put down your keys.

As we head into the busy holiday season, there are a number of initiatives to keep people from drinking and driving, from free rides on Winnipeg buses on New Year's Eve to Operation Red Nose, which will drive you and your car home safely.

Police say with all the options available there's no excuse to drink and drive. 

"If you choose not to take part in one of these programs to get you home safely, we'll get you home, but it may not be the way you want to get home," said Winnipeg Police Service Staff Sgt. Rob Riffel.

Winnipeg Transit announced Wednesday it will again be offering free rides on New Year's Eve. From 7 p.m. until the end of service, all regular Transit and Handi-Transit rides will be free of charge.

The last buses leave downtown around 1:30 a.m.

Transit has been offering free rides on New Year's Eve for 40 years, and saw 15,000 people take advantage of the service last year.

Operation Red Nose is also ramping up service as the organization heads into its busiest nights of the year. Red Nose got about 200 customers and their cars home last Saturday, and expect to get busier toward New Year's Eve.

"We're getting everyone home who calls us," said Sharra Hinton, co-ordination for Operation Red Nose.

"We have not turned anyone away. You book a call with us, we will get you home."

Operation ​Red Nose is a volunteer-based program that has drivers pick you and your vehicle up, and get you safely home, in exchange for a donation that goes toward kids' sports groups. Winnipeg's Operation Red Nose supports the Manta Swim Club.

Red Nose usually offers the service on Friday and Saturday nights over the holidays. This week, Red Nose will be running Thursday and Friday to lead into Christmas, which falls on the weekend.

Safe alternatives to drinking and driving over the holiday season

8 years ago

Duration 1:26

If you're raising a glass of holiday cheer this season, Winnipeg police are encouraging you to put down your keys.

"We are expecting this to be a busy weekend for us, and we have lots of drive teams and we're ready to go," Hinton said.

"We're out there trying to help make sure that everybody is getting home safe," she said.

Hinton says New Year's Eve is their busiest night. Red Nose drivers usually see about 300 pickups throughout the night, with most calls coming after midnight.

She says Operatio Red Nose needs 150 volunteer drive teams to make that happen, and right now they only have about half the volunteers needed.

"If anybody has a free evening, they're not celebrating, we'd love to have them at Red Nose," said Hinton.

Restaurant offers tasty incentive

The Polo Park Earls restaurant is also offering its customers an incentive not to drink and drive. Anyone who leaves their car in the Earls lot after a night out might return to find a gift on their windsheild, and it's not a ticket.

"We're offering, for those who leave their cars overnight, to give them a gift back. So $10 off  their next meal when they come back for their next visit, " said Shyla Goertzen, general manager of Earls Polo Park.

The restaurant says it's just part of giving back over the holidays and thanking their customers for making a responsible choice.

"We do so much promoting around getting people into our building over the Christmas holidays that we really want to support no drinking and driving, and encourage people to leave their cars behind at night and get home safe," she said.

Goertzen says Earls servers also offer to call cabs or arrange for Red Nose to pick up their guests.

She says the restaurant has handed out between 20 and 30 cards so far, and will continue to give them out until after New Year's Eve.