Designated Driver Service in KC

[PumpkinStalker]

Thought this was a pretty clever idea, they've been using it for some time in London apparently.  It's news to me, but it beats waking up and not knowing if your car has been stolen, broken into, or towed!

http://www.scootercrewusa.com/

Would anyone consider using this service?  $10 up front then $3 per mile.

[LindseyLohan]

This doesn't sound like a very profitable venture, but clever. They would be hard pressed to be able to find good employees that want to drive around drunks on cold Friday and Saturday nights. Then the liability of someone you probably aren't paying very well to drive around $50,000 SUVs. I bet you could make a lot more as a valet...

[KCKev]

Not everyone has to make money to do good things.
I bet you could buy a new ride and claim it as a Business expense. Drive a few drunks home and make good tips if your a good person.

[LindseyLohan]

Not everyone has to make money to do good things.

But a business has to make money to stay in business. Or get some Obama money...

[aknowledgeableperson]

Not everyone has to make money to do good things.
I bet you could buy a new ride and claim it as a Business expense. Drive a few drunks home and make good tips if your a good person.

Plus run up against taxi and livery ordinances in many American cities.

Something about operating a vehicle for hire.

[KCPowercat]

I've heard of tow truck companies doing this....they tow your car home for you after drinking.  I never trust tow truck drivers as a rule

[LindseyLohan]

Not everyone has to make money to do good things.

I also question the morality of supporting excessive drinking... not that I am one to talk

[LenexatoKCMO]

This doesn't sound like a very profitable venture, but clever.

Double the price of a taxi but without any of the expense of operating a car - sounds like a recipie for profit to me. 

[LindseyLohan]

Double the price of a taxi but without any of the expense of operating a car - sounds like a recipie for profit to me. 

I'd be curious to the insurance costs. If I told my agent I was going to be driving random (Anything between a ford focus and a Corvette) cars around for 40 hours a week, he'd probably tell me to piss off. They are insuring a whole group of employees working off min. wage plus tips.

Don't cab companies charge the drivers a ridiculous amount of money to lease the cab and then it is up to the driver to make the money to cover that expense, plus gas, plus his pay as a contractor?

[NDTeve]

I also question the morality of supporting excessive drinking... not that I am one to talk

A case of looking at the reality and not the morality.

[Highlander]

Double the price of a taxi but without any of the expense of operating a car - sounds like a recipie for profit to me. 

Yea, if anybody takes them up on it.  The profit margin will be huge and not much risk because no capital has been expended but I doubt if they get many takers.

A case of looking at the reality and not the morality.

Yea, if people are going to drink heavily, and they will, you might as well profit by taking them off the road.  Doesn't sound like a moral issue to me. 

[mudjack]

Where was this in the days when I was closing down the Newsroom and then swerving back home to Lawrence 5 nights a week?

[LenexatoKCMO]

Yea, if anybody takes them up on it.  The profit margin will be huge and not much risk because no capital has been expended but I doubt if they get many takers.  

Hard to know how it would do here, but the London one has been going strong for 10+ years.  I would think it would make even more sense in KC than Europe, since almost the entire population owns a car.  What percentage of London partiers even own a car in the first place?  For those taking a trip way back out to the burbs, I would think there would be a lot of advantage to not having to deal with an expensive second cab ride back to Westport/DT the next day or having to bribe one of your friends to schlep you back to your car. 

[LindseyLohan]

Hard to know how it would do here, but the London one has been going strong for 10+ years.  I would think it would make even more sense in KC than Europe, since almost the entire population owns a car.  What percentage of London partiers even own a car in the first place?  For those taking a trip way back out to the burbs, I would think there would be a lot of advantage to not having to deal with an expensive second cab ride back to Westport/DT the next day or having to bribe one of your friends to schlep you back to your car. 

Will these scooter be capable of journeys outside of the core? I know we have a 50cc scooter that we basically don't use anymore because 30mph isn't enough to keep up with traffic going into KC. Not safely, anyways... If someone can point me to a scooter that can fold up and fit in a trunk and get me from 151st and Metcalf to the plaza safely and efficiently, I would like to buy a couple right now.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Will these scooter be capable of journeys outside of the core? I know we have a 50cc scooter that we basically don't use anymore because 30mph isn't enough to keep up with traffic going into KC. Not safely, anyways... If someone can point me to a scooter that can fold up and fit in a trunk and get me from 151st and Metcalf to the plaza safely and efficiently, I would like to buy a couple right now.

I don't know about the KC ones, but the London ones are more of a folding motorbike than a scooter.  Point taken though, regardless of how big it is, I don't think I would want to drive on back DT from 151st st. 

[Highlander]

Hard to know how it would do here, but the London one has been going strong for 10+ years.  I would think it would make even more sense in KC than Europe, since almost the entire population owns a car.  What percentage of London partiers even own a car in the first place?  For those taking a trip way back out to the burbs, I would think there would be a lot of advantage to not having to deal with an expensive second cab ride back to Westport/DT the next day or having to bribe one of your friends to schlep you back to your car.  

If you are middle class and live in a place in London where public transportation isn't the first option, you probably own a car.   What's really different in Europe is the near unversal unwillingness to drive after drinking.  Unfortunately, I don't find that reluctance is that strong in the states where too many people are willing to take a chance.  We talk a great line about aversion to drunk driving but there are still a lot of drunks on the road.  I also think a lot of people are going to highly reluctant to let a complete stranger drive their cars, especially where taxi's are available.  Yea, it's an idea that could work but I think you'd be facing an uphill battle, at least until it caught on, due to some major differences in cultural attitudes.    One thing that did work in the UK was that the party thrower would  at times higher a few local kids with driving licences to ferry drunk guests home after they taxi'd to the party or just left their cars there...cities are compact so they never had too far to go.