In Japan, there is this service called a daiko. It costs just a bit more than a taxi. If you call for a daiko, two drivers will come in a taxi car. One driver will drive you and your car home and the other will follow behind.

When I lived in Japan, it took me a while to warm up to the idea of a daiko. It costs more than a taxi and why would someone deliberately drive to a place where they were going to be drinking heavily? Why not take a taxi both ways? (More expensive.) Or take public transportation one way and taxi back? (Not as convenient.) My hesitation was really just a blatant case of neophobia. Daiko are awesome.

Using a daiko allowed my friends and I to party anywhere, and at unexpected times. We only had to wait for the service to arrive once rather than twice. Car-sized groups of people could be on the move at a moment’s notice, going where public transportation didn’t want to take us. With enough people, it actually becomes about as cheap as individually paying for public transportation. By the end of my year in Japan, daiko made so much sense I wondered why we didn’t have this service in the US.

The drinking culture (and the driving culture) is very different in Japan than here (in many surprising ways, I won’t go into details), but a daiko company still makes sense in this country. Who hasn’t wondered what the hell to do with their car at the hazy end of the night? Who hasn’t gone to a friend’s house for a “couple of drinks” and ended up passed out on the lumpy couch, squinting and fighting nausea in the dawn to move the car before the towing company does?

As it turns out, Portland does have a daiko service. Who knew? They have been pretty lousy about advertising. I found a flyer in a bowling alley. And it’s non-profit! It’s odd that RideOn, a non-profit organization dedicated to decreasing intoxicated driving, would adopt such a profitable practice before a private business caught on to the idea. Way to drop the ball entrepreneurs, bleeding-heart softies beat you to it!

For a mere $10 (again not much more than a taxi), RideOn will drive you, your car, and your friends (no additional charge per passenger) safely to your home. But, don’t get too excited, RideOn’s area of operation is pretty limited. They’re only located on the east side (but will go as far as 82nd St.). And only travel north-south from Burnside to Powell. That’s a pretty narrow swath of Portland, and potentially walkable for the cheap and deteremined. Plus, lot of Portlanders take pride in their ability to bike drunk regardless of personal risks. To cut down on drunk driving, RideOn must target those who are driving drunk to begin with. Not to mention, if someone is driving drunk, they might consider Powell-Burnside a close enough dash to risk it. (If this is you: Stop it!) RideOn will have to extend their territory across the bridge and into NorthEast before they can truly have an effect on Portland’s plastered and mobile.

But if you’re heading to the lower east side from 82nd or Mt. Tabor, I know you’re not walking and you’ve got cajones if you’re biking. So please, consider a daiko.

RideOn
(503) 235-RIDE
11pm-3am
www.rideonportland.org