The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) wants to get everyone home safely from their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. That’s why PBOT is offering discounts on taxi, Lyft, and Uber rides as part of its Safe Ride Home program.

Safe Ride Home coupons are valid for rides starting in the Portland city limits daily from Friday, March 13 to Tuesday, March 17, from 6 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. each night.

Plan ahead: Digital coupons can be downloaded at any time, starting today, and can be used any evening through Tuesday night.

PBOT provides Safe Ride Home as a way to curb impaired driving—a top contributing factor to traffic deaths on Portland streets. Portland's Vision Zero effort to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries focuses attention on the role of human behavior, as well as street design and other factors, in reducing traffic deaths.

Seventy percent of deadly crashes between 2019 and 2023 involved alcohol and/or drug impairment. In these crashes, 39% of the drivers were impaired. In that same period, 470 people died or suffered life-altering injuries in crashes involving impairment.

Drug and alcohol impairment has always been a top contributor of serious crashes. From January 2017 to June 2020, Portland averaged six traffic deaths or serious injuries per month involving drug and/or alcohol impairment. Sadly, this behavior only increased through the COVID-19 pandemic. The average rose to nine per month from July 2020 through 2021, according to data from the Oregon Department of Transportation.

These deaths and injuries are preventable. Notably, Portland did not record any DUII-related deadly crashes during peak holiday periods last year.

For those who plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, help make our streets safer by making Safe Ride Home part of your plans:

Taxi rides: Visit Kells Portland Irish Festival on the waterfront and Paddy’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival March 13 through March 17 and ask an employee for a paper taxi coupon good for up to $20 off one ride. Simply give the paper coupon to your taxi driver.
Lyft rides: Participants can get $10 off a Lyft ride.
Uber rides: Participants can get $10 off an Uber ride.

All rides must start in the Portland city limits to be eligible.

DOWNLOAD COUPON

Looking for other affordable options? You can get a safe ride home year-round by traveling on TriMet bus and MAX trains, Portland Streetcar, and C-TRAN public transit.

PBOT’s Safe Ride Home program started in 2017 and provides travel options for people celebrating at certain times of the year. During 2025, the program helped fund over 3,050 rides so that people could celebrate responsibly and get home safely.

The Safe Ride Home program is funded by the taxi permit fees and fees charged for every Lyft and Uber ride in Portland. The fee also covers safety inspections, driver background checks and the PDX WAV program that makes accessible on-demand vehicles available to people with wheelchairs or mobility devices in Portland.

Source: Portland Bureau of Transportation

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