.08?

[Mijo]

I need some help. Awhile back I remember a segment on the news advertising a new company called .08. It's like a taxi service but they drop/pick you up at you drinking destination to keep you from driving intoxicated. I can't find anything now that I would like to utilize the service. When I was younger I could care less and I never got caught or had anything bad happen but I realize I'm on borrowed time now and I'm no longer willing to chance drinking and driving. Anyhow... Does anyone know how I can find the site or number. I've already called information and googled it to no avail. Thanks.

[midgetonadonkey]

I would like information on this as well.

[01Snake]

PointZero8 provides alternative after partying

Web Posted: 08/31/2006 08:36 PM CDT

David Uhler
Express-News Staff Writer

After an evening of drinking and club hopping, Penny Casillas will have few options for a safe trip home.

She can call a taxi for a ride, but that means leaving her car overnight in a nightclub parking lot. She can get a lift from her group's designated driver — a chore she and her friends take turns doing so someone stayed sober — but that person sometimes slips off the wagon halfway through the evening.

Now, Casillas has another alternative.

She is one of the charter members of PointZero8, a new service in San Antonio that will help customers and their cars get home safely after a night on the town.

"I have no ties to a family or a boyfriend or anything like that," says Casillas, a 34-year-old college student and computer information systems liaison. "So, when I do go out, I want to be able to call whenever I need a ride."
More information

* PointZero8 , (210) 444-0008
* Automated blood-alcohol calculator
* National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's latest report on alcohol and traffic fatalities

PointZero8 — the name is derived from the .08 blood-alcohol percentage that is the legal limit in all 50 states — is the brainchild of Marc Groleau. A computer video game consultant and a native of Canada, Groleau used a similar service when he lived and partied in Montreal.

After eight years in the United States, including the last six in San Antonio, Groleau says the idea for PointZero8 popped into his head recently when he looked around a bar and saw a lot of professionals who could ill afford a conviction for driving while intoxicated.

"Right now, drinking and driving is a big thing," says Groleau, 31. "A lot of people are getting DWIs and a lot of people are getting killed on the roads. I just thought the demand is there."

Just in time for the Labor Day weekend, Groleau started giving rides last week. Drivers who have had too much to drink — or someone else sober enough to use a telephone — can contact PointZero8 at (210) 444-0008.

Seeking support for his concept, Groleau and one of his associates recently met with a local representative of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. Venesa Matthews, the executive director of MADD in South Texas, says she has forwarded Groleau's information to MADD's national headquarters for review.

"It's a unique idea," she says. "It's one of those things that you just kind of see how it will work out. But they seem real excited about it and have thought it out very well."

Texas recorded 1,224 deaths involving drunk drivers in 2005, according to figures released last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Lone Star State was second in the nation to California, which had 1,250 fatalities.

Amy George, the national communications manager for MADD in Dallas, says her organization can't endorse specific products, but adds that services such as PointZero8 deserve support.

"MADD will always say the safest way home is to let the designated sober driver do the driving," George says. "So, if that sober driver is a designated driver service, that's great.

"That makes sure everyone stays safe on the road."

PointZero8 users will pay annual membership fees in addition to charges for each ride. Two drivers will be dispatched on each call, one to drive the client in the client's car, the other to follow in another car behind them. Groleau plans to respond to all calls in less than 30 minutes.

Annual memberships range from $60 for students to $2,000 corporate memberships, which Groleau expects nightclubs and bars might buy to help inebriated customers get home safely. He says it will be up to the bar and the customer, however, to decide who pays the trip charge. Rides for members cost a flat fee of $25 for trips inside a 10-mile radius; extra miles cost $1.50 each. Non-members can get rides, too. They cost $35 for the first 10 miles and another $2 per mile after that.

PointZero8 also offers family memberships. They start at $150 per couple and increase for parents who want to include children who might call for rides after drinking illegally. Another option, called the "White Glove Service," pairs PointZero8 drivers with members for $50 an hour.

"Basically, you can hire a driver to drive you all night long," Groleau says.

For now, PointZero8's area of coverage stretches from Interstate 35 to Interstate 10 and downtown to Loop 1604. It will handle calls from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.

"I'm not trying to discriminate against anybody," Groleau says, explaining why coverage is limited. "San Antonio is just a big, big place to try and work, especially since I don't know the reaction of the public.

"I don't know how many drivers I'm going to need."

[midgetonadonkey]

Damn that's expensive. Fuck that.

[johngateswhiteley]

Damn that's expensive. Fuck that.

no kidding. why not just get a taxi? or a friend?

[ORION]

haha memberships

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I'm fairly certain VIA offers a service like that for free or very low cost. I remember seeing it advertised downtown while I was driving home from work, but I can't find the memo where I wrote the number.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Well, this would blow for somebody like me (and the gajillion others who live outside 410)...

http://www.viainfo.net/Ride/Starlight.aspx

Don't get me wrong, it's still a cool service.

[SAtown]

Damn, they even have "family memberships," including kids who drink illegally!??? :lmao

[phyzik]

whats really sad is that there are people that drink so much that this is a feasable option for them.

[mavsfan1000]

I prefer .04 :D

[01Snake]

whats really sad is that there are people that drink so much that this is a feasable option for them.

No. What's sad is having 2 beers can net you a DWI.

[Mijo]

It's expensive but it's alot cheaper than a DWI.

[sa_butta]

Well, this would blow for somebody like me (and the gajillion others who live outside 410)...

http://www.viainfo.net/Ride/Starlight.aspx

Don't get me wrong, it's still a cool service.Would work for me I live in Medical Center. Didnt even know they had that.

[midgetonadonkey]

whats really sad is that there are people that drink so much that this is a feasable option for them.

What's sad about that?

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Sounds like an ass raping in the making.