Could this be a real solution to stop drink driving?

I think it’s Mt Buller has a novel way of getting people to/from the drinking venues, they pull a cart with a cage behind a groomer and people get in and stand up. It does loops of the lodges and the village centre.

They call it the Zoo Cart.

Tricky to meet new people in your own living room.

Invite your friends to bring their friends. Unless you have none…

I’m SURE that cabs are more expensive here then in Sydney as well.

yebbut, sinney also has a broader and better serviced public transit system i used to be able to get a train to within a couple miles of my place in western sinney almsot any time til well after witching hour [which the more astute rioter will be aware is actually 11pm to midnight, not from the latter, as is often mistaken] as a yoof, then hoof it home – voila! sober well and truly by the time i get to bed, up bright and sparkly – all good!

gertel said :

Surpisingly, when I’ve been to Melbourne for the Aus Open Tennis, I’ve found the public transport stops at midnight. So if the men’s night match is a real humdinger you have to either leave early or take a taxi. Not sure if they’ve changed this policy in recent years but very poor form for such a large city. At least Canberra has a small population as an excuse.

No, it doesn’t, I don’t think. I remember chasing a night-rider through collingwood. But we couldn’t find the stop so we just walked to the city. But it exists, I’m pretty sure.

Surpisingly, when I’ve been to Melbourne for the Aus Open Tennis, I’ve found the public transport stops at midnight. So if the men’s night match is a real humdinger you have to either leave early or take a taxi. Not sure if they’ve changed this policy in recent years but very poor form for such a large city. At least Canberra has a small population as an excuse.

Drunk cycling FTW!

tylersmayhem said :

It’s quite absurd considering the transport problems that Canberra faces, yet there is no regular late night services over the weekend. I Think ANY other majot city I’ve been to in my travels has a lite night service of some kind.

Canberra is a pretend major city. Don’t say ‘country town with public-service buildings’ or they’ll get you!

I Think ANY other majot city I’ve been to in my travels has a lite night service

Uh, that was meant to say LATE night service! ;P

It’s quite absurd considering the transport problems that Canberra faces, yet there is no regular late night services over the weekend. I Think ANY other majot city I’ve been to in my travels has a lite night service of some kind.

johnboy said :

Tricky to meet new people in your own living room.

Depends who you live with, really. The only problem is meeting people in your living room when you don’t feel like social interaction at all.

I agree with some method of public transport for late-night drinkers. It’s the only realistic solution. Here’s an idea. Make post 10pm parking in the city ludicrously expensive, so much so that it’d be more financially viable to catch a cab and also make sure that free passes are given to businesses who’s employees work late-night shifts in the city. Put a regularly-running night-rider service until the god-early hours of the morning. Have security on these buses as well as the cctv. Sure, it may cost a bit – but if that was weighed against the cost of enforcing drink-driving laws every fri-sat night and the cost of drunken accidents – might it even out?

Tricky to meet new people in your own living room.

I agree with Holden Caulfield. Make your own arrangements if cost is a problem. For example, have a few drinks over dinner at home before you go out, catch a bus into town, split a hotel room with some mates, share a cab with others, etc.

I prefer being at peoples’ houses if I’m going to have a few drinks anyway.

People have been dealing with this issue for years, just come up with a plan.

I think more suburban joints are a great idea. Using All Bar Nun (how it used to be) for example!

Gen Y wants everything on a plate, farkn. How about taking some personal responsibility!

If you’re going to go out for a night on the turps and it will cost you $100 in two-way cab fares well suck it up if that’s your choice of activity for the night.

Loquaciousness said :

Special G said :

Your plan has big holes in it – people will drink and drive anyway as the bus takes too long.

G, of course they will! But if it gets just one accident off the road, it’s got to be a good thing, right?

L

It is a good thing, except if that one accident is the bus. But seriously, a program like this is a great way to minimise harm to intoxicated people. There would have to a security set up on the bus though (guards, cameras etc..) and this costs money to set up and who is going to pay for it? If it were a private enterprise though it would be good, but the insurances needed would be astronomical and the ACT government would want a big cut (and the credit) of the profits.

I think it’s a great idea. Besides, somebody might actually want to get home at that time of the morning even if they haven’t been drinking.

Special G said :

Your plan has big holes in it – people will drink and drive anyway as the bus takes too long.

G, of course they will! But if it gets just one accident off the road, it’s got to be a good thing, right?

L

Your plan has big holes in it – people will drink and drive anyway as the bus takes too long.

Having buses on for special events would be awesome…. and I loved the nightrider !!

Taxi’s are just way too expensive, esp when you dont live anywhere near your friends.

Think about the upcoming Oktoberfest this weekend…. Yes there is going to be alot of drunk people… But last year I know of some mates who after 2 hours waiting in line for a cab, called someone to pick them up because almost no taxi’s were even showing up. Most Taxi drivers wont go near anyone who looks slightly intoxicated, and I agree which would be better 100 people standing in a queue for hours waiting for a taxi to come, or putting on a bus say every half an hour to drop people home.

I sure as hell know I would much rather pay say $10 to catch a bus close to my home and walk a little…. than pay $50 to a taxi driver.

(I have mates who are taxi drivers, and have also had very bad experiences with taxi drivers… But I would have the say as crap as the bus network is in Canberra… the Taxi Service is WORSE !)

SheepGroper said :

They could use a cattle truck instead, easier to hose out at the end of the shift.

I like this idea. No problems if people spew, nobody can hurt the driver – its a win win for everyone.

sepi:
“Anyone who is a student or a part time worker just can’t afford to go out if they don’t drive.
And in Canberra with the lack of taxis driving is almost the only way to get home.”

Absolutely, 100% correct.
I’m SURE that cabs are more expensive here then in Sydney as well.

ant said :

More suburban taverns! And don’t let the bikies take them over.

What, so say chisholm for example, it wont be a seedy place ever again??

HA!

More suburban taverns! And don’t let the bikies take them over.

@OP, So you’re proposing that taxpayers fund people to go into Civic and get drunk?

I think the money would be better spent on more police…

… or WMC’s idea, that’s defintely got my vote too!

They could use a cattle truck instead, easier to hose out at the end of the shift.

Ahh that is the real purpose of the gas powered station in Tuggers

WMC for chief minister! Now *that’s* a policy I’d vote for. And attitude, too. seriously.

As much as I hate the idea of paying for an additional bus just to stop morons from driving home drunk, I wonder if that would be outweighed by the cost of cleaning said moron and their victims off roadside flora.

Late buses is definitely a good idea.

It amazes me the amount they spend on tv ads about not drink driving, but they don’t put any money into actual alternatives.

Anyone who is a student or a part time worker just can’t afford to go out if they don’t drive.

And in Canberra with the lack of taxis driving is almost the only way to get home.

Alternatively I can risk driving home whilst drunk because chances are good I won’t be pulled over.

Because killing yourself and/or somebody else doesn’t even come into it.

What is it with deadbeats wanting the taxpayer to support their miscreant lifestyles? And always with the veiled threat – “you’d better cough up those dollars now, or you’ll pay later when I do untold damage.”

Here’s an idea – we build a dragway, we put on free beer, and then when everybody’s rocked up, we nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

I was listening to that edition of Hack tonight. It’s always a good listen, even for oldies. It was good, too, how some of those people were all evangelical about not drink driving because of all the people you could kill, and they’d had bad smashes while drunk, and the host gently reminded them that their attitudes hadn’t changed until they’d smashed themselves up.

Some kind of public system would be good though. Places I’ve worked in the US had a decent public transport system and you could go out and get plastered and then bus home, no worries. for free, often, too, as local sales tax paid for it.

Works in tons of places. Better to have the drunks getting taken home rather than all standing around in the cold at a taxi rank for an hour plus chewing on soggy chips and getting rather annoyed at all the people who suddenly find out they have thirty friends who need to push in and get a taxi as well. You wouldn’t even need to get to people’s houses just have set drop off points per suburb and a quick stumble home and in bed…. Job done. Could do inner north, belco, Weston Creek-Tuggers, inner south. So 8 buses, 8 drivers (inbound and outbound to reduce waiting times) and to raise a bit of revenue clubs could be allowed to advertise or have their drink vouchers, free/cheap/priority entry tickets, the bus delivers to their door or whatever given out on the inbound trips. Run it Thurs, Fri, Sat night.

The taxi industry doesn’t have a leg to stand on there we all know they can’t handle the demand at these times and admit it themselves but they can’t put more cars on because there are no drivers and during non peak times they would be losing money hand over fist with more taxis around which is their whole argument about more cars on the road. Cut some of the overwhelming demand at peak times (0100 – 0500) and lo and behold everyone benefits. Lots of small clubs in other towns run the courtesy bus as already described and most consider it part of their responsible service of alcohol and of community benefit.

mouthface said :

Of course they will have a whinge!!! Why doesn’t the governement give you free food, or clothes, or a television so that you don’t have to buy any at the shops you scabs!

Nightrider wasnt for free – you had to pay but it was a better price than what a cab charges. Hardly see that as being a scab but obviously you dont mind being shafted when you jump into a cab

When I lived in Mount Isa, most of the clubs had a similar system. As long as you were a member of the club, (membership maybe $10 per year) you could call up, and they would guarantee to send a mini bus to your house within 30 minutes, and then get you to the club within 30 minutes of that. Whilst cab fares weren’t that much…maybe a maximun of $25 each way from where I lived to the Irish Club, it was still handy.

Obviously couldn’t work in Canberra, i’s too spread out, but it was a great system.

I knew one of the drivers from the Buffalo Club, which was situated right in the centre of town, opposite the main shopping centre. He used to tell me of the little old ladies who were members of the club, would call up every Wednesday, get the free bus into the club, have a glass of lemonade, walk over to the shopping centre, do the weekly grocery shopping, walk back to the club, have a cup of tea, then take the free bus home with all the groceries….

Of course they will have a whinge!!! Why doesn’t the governement give you free food, or clothes, or a television so that you don’t have to buy any at the shops you scabs!

do what i do… drink at home! cheaper, and much easier and cheaper to stumble to bed!

Nice idea but wont work because the taxi industry will have a good old whinge about missing out on all the fares that the buses took. The nightrider was such a great success that it was going to be implemented Fri/Sat night for mind but the cabbies fired up and it was scrapped. In saying that I guess when you are made by the government to pay $250,000 for the right to run a cab its no wonder the consumer is charged like wounded bull for any trip in a taxi.

They could use a cattle truck instead, easier to hose out at the end of the shift.

GottaLoveCanberra said :

Loading a bus full of drunk people? Not a good idea in my mind.

hmmmm yes i see your point

They did it a few years ago for their night rider services. They ran it for several years but only during the December “holiday” period and NYE.

Loading a bus full of drunk people? Not a good idea in my mind.

yes if a scheme like this was implemented it would show the government was serious about taking drunk drivers off the road…
if i go out, a taxi to civic costs me $70, and then back again makes it $140!! Ridiculous – i dont even spend that much on drinks or food for a big night.

Seems like a good idea. I personally factor in the taxi fare whenever I go out. On the topic of drinking though, one thing I would love to see implemented here is free drinks for designated drivers. I have gone out and not drunk for the night because I am driving many times, paying for soft drink (which can cost more than beer at times) is just another reason not to be a designated driver for the night.