Bottom and Back - Free bus rides to Richmond bars

Ive meant to start a thread about this a while ago, because its such a positive thing this guy is doing. In a effort to curb drunk driving this guy started a completely free bottom and back bus, i believe last summer. Its expanded now and has worked really well. So this guy did it just because he recognized it would benefit the community. Not to try and make money or for any other reason. m pretty sure hes loosing money.

In Richmond the Fan and Shockoe Bottom are the big bar areas with vcu in between. Both areas are also close enough that a lot of times youll start in one area and end up in the other for the second half of the night. Also most VCU kids live in the Fan. So this is just a great service for Richmond to have. And now you can even track the buses on your phone.

A practical approach to eliminate drinking and driving. | To The Bottom And Back (http://www.2bnb.org/)

drunk bus ftw

hope he gets some good donations/sponsorships

really thought that I'd see some more bars/venues on the sponsor list

If the bus is not take them home then it seems like it is just shuttle bus between bars. What happens at 3am when they need to get home?

Looks like it just links to drinking areas together and if you happen to live along its rout they will stop to pick you up. This service is not new the pictures have dates from 2007.

Tryful - ive never riden the bus before but ive heard they accept donations on the bus, but they really dont expect you to donate if that makes sense. The donation box is more there to facilitate a way for riders to donate, not to encourage them to do so. There are not many sponsors yet, hopefully that will change in time.

mredskins - So most people who go to VCU, that are not commuters, live in the Fan. Most of the dorms on campus are also in the Fan. The most popular places to live as a under 30 year old is in the fan or downtown. You can pretty much walk to any downtown bar if you live downtown. But its too far to walk downtown from the fan or vice versa. The fan is a little more spread out so most people tend to drive to one end of the fan from the other. Also most bars in both the fan and the bottom are on either on Main or Cary or immediately off one of those streets. Main and Cary are predominantly one way streets that run parallel to each other. Plus MCV is downtown so there is a decent amount of those kids trying to make their way up to the fan and then back home.

So this bus is perfect for keeping people from driving when they want to go from downtown to the fan or vice versa, or want to go from one side of the fan to the other. Since most people who are out getting drunk in those areas also live in one of those areas it keeps them from driving. I would think 90% of the people who take the bus do not end up driving afterwards, just based on how Richmond is set up. Now fancy UR kids might drive to the fan get on the bus, go bar hoping, then get dropped off and then drive back home (the West End, not all the way back to New Jersey or Connecticut).

If the bus is not take them home then it seems like it is just shuttle bus between bars. What happens at 3am when they need to get home?
you walk

you walk

or crawl :)

not to relate every little thing back to baltimore but they started this free bus circulator which pretty much makes a circle of all the inner harbor and immeditaley surrounding attractions. pretty damn cool. you can hop on in fed hill and ride it down to lil italy or lexington market.

of course, the second someone shoots someone in the inner harbor and uses the free city circulator as the escape vehicle, people want to shut it down. but i hope not.

the buses look nice, i mean real nice, there hybrids and the circular route they run is a very important area for tourists and others alike who want to spend money.

honestly its about the only new thing to happen to baltimore in teh past year or so that i have actually seen as a positive change. when it first started, noone was using it (but they may have been winter = less tourists, etc) but now its pretty popular.

idk, these free buses are nice additions to any city and imo its really designed to take people from shopping point A to shopping point B so the cities and the shops receive a boost as well. win win.

I love this idea. I wish more of these were sponsored by cities and local government. Where I work they sponsor a drunk bus for students who go way out into the country to drink. Basically people aren't willing to pay/wait for a taxi and people are going to drunk drive no matter what the options are unless they make it very easy.

I know this sucks, but it's the reality of college and I love the idea.

This is an awesome idea! Can you drink on the bus too? You should be able to. That way you wouldn't lose your buzz if you're going to another bar.