Fed up of traffic woes and to avoid drink-driving, Punekars hire services of cabbies and rickshawallas to drive them home after the New Year bash

We drink, you drive. This seems to be the motto ofu00a0 party-goers in the city. To avoid drink driving on New Year's eve, they have now turned to private cabbies and rickshawallas to drive them home safe. Crazy traffic and parking woes on December 31 areu00a0u00a0 other reasons for the rise in demand.u00a0

Amit Anand, a resident of Aundh, said, "We have not decided where to party, but have already informed a local rickshaw guy. Last year, we had a huge problem trying to park our car. We had parties at Beverly Hills Hotel, Kondhwa and it took us almost an hour and a half to reach, and then we had to park the car some half a kilometre away."

Safety first
Many professionals also feel that since Pune registers maximum number of accidents, it's safer to opt for
private cabs.
u00a0
According to Sandeep Roy, an IT professional, it's riskyu00a0 to drive on New Year's eve. You have to be careful with your drink and there are so many crazy drivers on the road."

Private cabs and auto rickshaws are cashing in on this opportunity. In fact, private cab companies like Radio Wings and Makson Auto Wings have also planned workshops for their drivers to tackle drunken clients.

Though they are yet to begin with bookings they are hopeful that December 31 will see an increase of almost 40 per cent in business.

Amol Raut, Manager, Radio Wings, said, "We have 250 cars in the city and so far we have got 300 bookings for pick-ups. But we are being extra careful before booking cars as last year our drivers had to deal with clients who were not only drunk, but were also misbehaving."

Better profits
Aditya Makharia, proprietor, Makson Auto Hires feels that if the December 31 deadline is extended till 2 am they will definitely make more better profits than last year."

Baba Shinde, chairman, Pune City Autorickshaw Federation, said, "We have observed that drivers makeu00a0 double the money on New Year's. On a regular day, rickshawallas earn Rs 400, but on New Year's eve they make huge profits. Moreover, hiring an autorickshaw will also keep a check on drink driving and reduce risks of accidents."