MAC’s Safe Ride board member Nina Robert drives the volunteer organization’s van around on weekends, picking up people who are too drunk to drive. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

TUPPER LAKE — Although this town does not have an official taxi service and not much of a presence from Uber or Lyft, people who do not own vehicles can still get around town and the Tri-Lakes for cheap, at the busiest times of the day.

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Hitchin’ a ride

The Tupper Lake Adult Center’s new director, Ray Bigrow, said the Franklin County Transportation Department runs two buses out of the center for weekday trips around and out of town. He said many people do not know the buses are not just for seniors and operate as essentially a taxi for Tupper Lake.

“I don’t think enough people in Tupper Lake are taking advantage of the transportation buses,” Bigrow told the town board at a meeting last week.

He said a one-way ride anywhere in town — and to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid — costs $2 for disabled people, seniors over 60 and high school students, and $3 for everyone else.

Sonny Dumas, a Franklin County bus driver, said the bus to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid sees around 315 riders monthly and the on-demand bus in town sees around 200 riders monthly. Bigrow said the out-of-town bus is often half-full but the in-town drivers are sometimes just waiting for a call.

The in-town bus is on call from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and riders need to call 518-483-9000 24 hours ahead of time to schedule a pick-up time.

The Lake Placid News has previously reported on the Franklin County-run bus from Malone, which carries many of the town’s hospitality workers to their jobs every day. Tupper Lake has its own bus as well, which makes stops in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid.

This bus costs the same as the one around town: $2 to $3 dollars one way. It does not require a reservation, leaving the Tupper Lake Adult Center at 5:10 a.m. every weekday. However, Dumas said people can call 24 hours in advance to have this one pick them up at their door.

The bus arrives in Saranac Lake by 6 a.m. at the Dorsey Street parking lot and makes a bunch of stops between there and Lake Placid all day, making its final Lake Placid stop at 3:25 p.m. and heading back to Tupper Lake at 6 p.m.

Dumas said the buses are funded through state and federal funds, advertising on the sides of the vehicles and the price of bus tickets.

Bigrow also said the center is looking for two more bus drivers with commercial drivers licenses. Dumas said people looking to become drivers can call him directly to apply at 518-483-9001.

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Safe rides

Though the county bus stops running in the afternoon, MAC’s Safe Ride Continued starts its route at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and most holidays, giving anyone a free ride home in its large van, namely those who have been drinking.

MAC’s Safe Ride board member Nina Robert said they transported 68 people around last Saturday night alone.

The service is an offshoot of the original MAC’s Safe Ride that started in Old Forge in 2010, after Matt Girouard, a Tupper Lake native, and Craig Sears died in an alcohol-related car crash in October 2009.

“There’s so much drinking and driving everywhere, and I wanted to make a difference,” Chapter President Vivian Smith said. “I think everybody’s been touched by alcohol somewhere in their life, or tragedy from it.”

Smith said they will give a discreet ride home to anyone, regardless of age, to keep people from taking chances behind the wheel.

“We don’t kiss and tell,” Smith said.

Designated drivers don’t always stay sober, she added, and mentioned that while it is known that a 0.08 blood alcohol content is grounds for a driving while intoxicated ticket, it only takes a 0.05 BAC to get a ticket for driving with ability impaired.

Smith also said they will drive babysitters home if parents have been out drinking. The group has even given rides to kids who were just too cold after sledding to walk home.

Going into its fifth year of service, the volunteer nonprofit has 12 board members, a dedicated group of drivers and dozens of riders every night of the weekend. Volunteers drive a large van all over town until 3 a.m., giving the community safe rides home.

“Tupper Lake is a great community; we stick together,” Smith said. “MACs Safe Ride is all about preventing, being proactive rather than reactive. I think people really care about our community and our roads and our children.”

Smith said she wants to keep MAC’s Safe Ride running in Tupper Lake to keep its streets safe. To keep it operating, it needs four volunteers every weekend — a driver and co-pilot each night, and she said she is always looking for more drivers. It only takes an ordinary license and she requires that applicants have no DWIs in the past 10 years. Co-pilots, who answer phones and write down pick-up and drop-off locations do not have to meet these requirements.

The free service accepts donations and stays in operation from an advertising budget from people paying to have names and logos displayed on the van, and an annual silent auction and golf tournament and bottle redemption bin, which can be donated to at Larkin’s downtown.

Smith said MAC’s board members should be commended for their volunteerism. These board members each take the van for a month out of the year, storing it, maintaining it and sometimes driving it themselves.

Smith said she would welcome a paid transportation service in Tupper Lake, or an Uber-style app; but until then they will continue to provide free safe rides home.