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South Jersey Town Extends Free Ride Program To Residents To Battle DUI

By David Madden

EVESHAM, N.J. (CBS) - One Burlington County community is extending a pilot program through the end of the year that gives its residents free rides home after they've had too much to drink.

Evesham Township provided 350 people free rides last month through Uber and a national program called BEmyDD, which is short for Designated Driver, according to Township Mayor Randy Brown:

"They are only Evesham residents and they've only come from the 19 bars, restaurants and golf courses in Evesham to a resident's home," he tells KYW Newsradio.

So they're teaming up to continue the program until January 2nd, seven days a week, from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m.

Residents download a special app to their phone, activate it, and someone picks them up. No charge to township residents, Brown stresses, since donations are paying for the service...for now.

Should things continue to work well, the town might make a long-term commitment to the program, and that might require tax money. But Brown insists it would be worth it:

"We'll never know how many lives we've saved, but you can't put any dollars attached to the value of somebody's life."

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