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Comment by RIMR | Hacker News Reader

If you live in Seattle proper, there are busses that run all night. Most of them will get you within a 20-minute walk of wherever you want to go.

Still, with Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, and 5+ cab companies at your disposal there is no excuse for being drunk behind the wheel.

Before I moved here I was a pretty obsessively responsible driver. Now that I live here, I have to keep my irresponsible drinking in check because I never have a driving obligation to convince me to stay sober...

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My thought is that if you have the money to spend on multiple drinks, then you should be able to spend at least one drink's cost on Uber, Lyft, etc.

Either a drink is super expensive where you are, or Uber is very cheap.

Hanging out at a place within walking distance of home really is the best bet. Sadly a lot of American cities don't seem to have bars anywhere near where people live, unlike European ones where you can throw a rock from your window and hit a pub.

Last week I took Uber late at night one mile in a downtown area near where I live. It cost about $6 USD. Usually a beer is about $5-8 in that area.

But I agree, it depends quite a bit on distance between where you are and your destination.

One mile? I'd argue you can walk that even (or especially? I tend to like that) if you're drunk.

The GP probably talked about a somewhat bigger trip, maybe (sorry, miles isn't something that feels natural) on the order of 10-15+ km.

Now, driving drunk is absolutely no excuse. But I do agree that the price of getting home by Cab-Or-Replacement-Service is probably not in the 'one more drink' range. A bus ticket though..?

Ugh, the thought of walking a mile (1.6km) while drunk is not pleasant at all. In fact, the thought of any physical exercise while drunk makes me want to vomit right now. The world just keeps tipping side to side... like a ship in rough waters... I'll take a cab, please.

Drunk walking can be pretty dangerous for the pedestrian. You're better off spend the $6.

Just how drunk are you getting that even a mile is a life-and-death situation?

Maybe the problem is not cabs or walking but knowing your limits.

"Drunk" by legal standards when driving and drunk as in can't see straight are typically two different things. You can be technically too drunk to drive but have little trouble getting home walking.

To be fair, I did say at least the cost of one. Relative to my area, it seemed like the cost of a drink was at least a mile drive. Like I said, if people have the money to buy enough drinks to get drunk, they should have enough money to pay for some alternative mode of transportation.

Don't Uber and Lyft have carpooling options now too? There are different ways to cut the cost. It really comes down to a question of responsibility.

It's not just Uber to get home; It's the logistics of picking up your car in the morning, paying the overnight fees/parking tickets for wherever you left it, and the additional time it's going to take you to get it back. Getting 'home' is not a solved problem with Uber, unless you have some serious foresight.

I can understand that. Why not take public transportation or carpool with friends/coworkers there and then for the way back take some other transportation method?

I'm not sure what foresight is lacked in this kind of situation. Most likely you know beforehand drinking enough to not be able to drive safely. Occasionally that won't be the case.

How about the present sight of "I drove here. I shouldn't drink."

Take Uber/bus/cab to the bar and back home. If you can't afford any of that, you shouldn't be getting drunk in a place you can't sleep and if you do, you deserve to go to jail if you drive. Logistics problem solved. It's not a lot of foresight and it's certainly not too much to ask of anyone who's going to get drunk.

In Seattle, overnight parking does not cost. They actually have stickers on the parking meters reminding drivers of this in the case that they're planning to drink.

Those buses might get you to within a 20 minute walk of your destination, but depending on when you are departing, you might have to wait up to an hour to catch the bus in the first place.

Seattle's public transit may be better than many American cities, but it still isn't great.

You make a great point about services like Uber, etc. For this reason alone, I now think cities need to stop with the bans and such. Cabs are not a substitute as no one likes to wait hours or walk miles or both in hope of catching one, a situation that's quite common in places like San Francisco (especially at night) and I imagine, many other cities.

Uber is so unbelievably horrible. It should not be the solution to anything.

The odds of Seattle having late night bus service are good, but the goods are ... well:

http://seattletransitblog.com/2014/07/08/metros-night-owl-al...

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