Free rides: take it easy on New Year’s Eve

People don’t always make the best decisions on New Year’s Eve.

The City of Moose Jaw and SGI want to ensure that there’s no reason for driving impaired to be one of those bad choices.

The City, in partnership with with SGI and the Moose Jaw Police Service, have expanded -- and rebranded -their annual “Wing in the New Year” free ride program. “We appreciate SGI sponsoring the program again this year and allowing Moose Javians who are out celebrating the brand new year to get a safe ride home,” said Craig Hemingway, communications manager for the City of Moose Jaw.

Moose Jaw Transit will offer free rides from 7:55 p.m. to 3:15 a.m. over the course of New Year’s Eve. The City has altered two of their routes for the night to better serve the public.

“We have, this year, for the first time, adjusted the routes slightly. We’re going to make pick-ups in front of a couple of places where we don’t normally stop, but that are sites of a couple of big New Year’s Eve parties. One is Mosaic Place where the Moose Jaw Warriors are hosting their New Year’s Eve cabaret and also the Royal Canadian Legion on High Street where they have a New Year’s Eve party,” Hemingway said. “We want to really encourage everybody at those events -- and any other event throughout the city -- to hop on a City bus and get a safe ride home that night.”

A map of the New Year’s Eve routes will be available on the City’s web site starting on Dec. 20. While the routes are altered they will still make all of their regular stops through the course of the evening as well. The bus will arrive at each stop every 40 minutes. Para-Transit will also have a bus offering transportation on New Year’s Eve. Para-Transit riders can pre-book their trip through Moose Jaw Transit (306-694- 4888) and they can also call that night as Moose Jaw Transit will have people manning the phones and dispatching the Para-Transit bus as needed.

The safe ride program has been a great success since its inception 30 years ago as “Ding in the New Year.” This year has seen the name changed to reflect SGI’s “be a good wingman” campaign that focused on combating impaired driving. Sgt. Kevin Pilsworth from the Moose Jaw