OCEAN CITY, Md. -- If alcohol helps you get the New Year rolling, then a safe ride home should be part of the plan. There are plenty of local resources on Delmarva for that, and Ocean City is doing its part to make sure a ride home is available and affordable.
If you need a ride home in the resort town, look no further than the city buses. Until 3:00 a.m. on New Year's Eve, you can ride the bus as many times as you want for free.
Mike Strawley, owner of The Bearded Clam, hopes the free rides deter some of his customers from having a not-so-smart conversation with themselves.
"'I'm okay, I'm good',well you're really not, so just be smart and take the bus," said Strawley.
The buses will run every half hour until 6:00 p.m., then every 15 minutes until 3:00 a.m. They run from the inlet to 144th Street.
If you're not staying within Ocean City limits and the bus isn't an option, dip into your wallet and take an Uber, Lyft or other rideshare option. If you're worried about spending that extra money to get home safely, well, you better believe it's a lot cheaper than the alternative.
"When you get that 'must appear' citation that means you have to come back for court," said Ashley Miller with the Ocean City Police Department. "So do you qualify for a public defender? Do you need to get a private attorney? Do you choose to represent yourself? You have different options to go through but most of those options do come with a price tag."
Quick research on Alcohol.Org will show you that price tag, for a lawyer alone, can cost up to $5,000.
The bottom line is that the smart decision, both financially and ethically, is to take an Ocean City bus, a rideshare, or a designated driver.
"It takes the risk away or the option away of getting in your car, starting it up when you shouldn't and potentially having bad things happen to yourself, to somebody else, to someone you love or just in general," said Strawley.
If you are going to celebrate the New Year with alcohol, make sure you actually make it to 2025, and schedule a sober ride.
