To encourage bar goers to take a sober ride home when out drinking at the bars, the non-profit Joyride steps in to give discounts to taxies or ride shares like Lyft and pretty soon Uber.

At participating bars, you can ask the bartender for a Joyride ticket and they give you a coupon that offers up to a $10 discount. The non-profit makes no money from this transaction and they are heavily funded with grants.

Joyride operates in both Cloquet and in Duluth, but since the pandemic the amount of participating Duluth bars has gone down drastically. Allison Nicolson, who’s an advocate for the program, says, “We are down to about 40 or some [Duluth] establishments running. We want everyone to run it. It’s so easy. Why not provide a safe and sober ride home?”

Monday at the Duluth City Council meeting, Nicolson and another representative of Joyride spoke to the city councilors. They hope to get the support they need to spread the service to every bar in Duluth.