DES MOINES, Iowa — Bars and restaurants will likely start filling up as summer approaches and more people get vaccinated, but if you're planning to grab an Uber or Lyft home after a few drinks, you may want to have a backup plan.
Allyson Doorenbos, who lives in West Des Moines, said last weekend she spent an hour looking for an Uber home from an outdoor brewery downtown but had no luck.
"I just ended up calling a friend, who luckily wasn't drinking that night so she could give me a ride,” Doorenbos said. “If she wasn't available, I don't know what I would have done.”
Stories like this are becoming more and more common.
The Des Moines International Airport provided Local 5 with rideshare data, which shows airport pickups plummeted during the pandemic and have yet to recover.
Uber has been in Des Moines since 2014.
The same year the service started, OWI revocations drastically drop in Polk County.
"The benefit of having those rideshare programs available is obvious,” Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said. “The number of OWIs is going to go down. The safety piece is huge."
After last weekend, Doorenbos said she’s been telling her friends to plan out how to get home if they make any plans to go out, but still, she said she’s worried if people can’t get rides, it may cause OWIs to spike this summer.
"If there are no Ubers, people are going to have to figure out how to get home one way or another,” Doorenbos said.
Police recommend designating a driver, using a taxi service or pre-scheduling an Uber or Lyft to take you home if you're going to have a few drinks at a bar or at a friend’s house.