Designated drivers sought in big cities

According to a local in Hanoi, he usually drinks with friends after football matches but not many restaurants have overnight parking lots so he tries to drive home.

A regular drinker shared that he always thought that he was sober after drinking. But when he took the wheel, even he was scared at how drunk he was. He often had to stop along the way to take a nap.

It is also very difficult to find designated driver service in Hanoi as there is no provider. In HCM City, this service is slightly more common.

Tran Nhat Truong, owner of You Drink I Drive service said they had launched the service app since 2017 but hadn’t received many customers. He established the service in April 2017 due to his own demand for a designated driver.

On the first days, he only received three to five customers a day even though hundreds of drivers had registered to serve. Each month, he received 75-115 customers and 1,000 trips in 2017 despite huge investment in marketing. Truong said a car was an expensive asset so few people wanted to entrust them to a stranger. Many people think the service is a waste of money.

"In many cases, customers already booked our service but out of habit, they would just drive themselves home after the party ended," Truong said.

After the new law which bans drivers from drinking while driving any form of vehicle took effect in 2020, more and more people have started searching for designated driver services.

Kien, a designated driver in HCM City, said his hours of work were from 7 pm to midnight. He has faced many strange situations while doing his job. His customers vomited in the car, cursed and even attempted to hit him because they thought he was a thief.

"Some refused to pay while they were drunk. But after they were sober in the next morning, they always paid up," he said.

The service fee for a 10km trip is VND400,000. Dtinews