Weekend ride totals from Operation Red Nose continue to climb as the seasonal safe ride system nears its fourth - and final - weekend.
On Friday and Saturday 274 rides were completed by more than 161 volunteers over the two days. Last weekend 243 drivers called in, doubling the opening weekend's 113 trips.
To date, ORN Prince George has given 630 safe rides, often with multiple passengers and drop-off points. Its the second most popular city for the service, behind Kamloops' combined 729 rides over three weekends.
Saturdays are typically the busier of the two nights, and this week was no exception. It saw 23 teams helped 163 vehicles get home compared to Friday's total of 11 rides by 22 teams. Combined, the volunteers covered nearly 7,000 kilometres.
Despite the uptick in rides, callers waited at most 20 minutes, compared to almost an hour-long wait the Saturday before.
But no night compares to the demand for drivers on New Years Eve and so Operation Red Nose is still calling for volunteers. It will need between 40 to 45 teams - or double the number on the road on a typical night - to meet the demand from callers.
Online applications should be filled out at ornpg.ca as soon as possible to make time to process their criminal record checks.
Operation Red Nose has three more nights for partygoers - Dec. 19 and 20 and New Year's Eve. For a ride on those nights, call ORN at 250-962-RIDE (7433) between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. and until 4 a.m. on Dec. 31.
