Operation Red Nose provided 1,001 safe rides home in Prince George this holiday season.
Volunteers drove 208 party-goers home on New Year's Eve to wrap up the 15th year of the campaign in the city, Operation Red Nose spokesperson Andrea Johnson said in a written statement.
"Thirty-four amazing volunteer road teams travelled 5,990 km in seven hours to ring in 2014,"Johnson said. "We are pretty happy with how the night unfolded, but as expected the demand for rides increased exponentially after midnight and at one point we were 65 rides behind as clients waited as long as an hour to get home. We apologize to those who did call but found alternate ways home if we didn't reach them in time."
The Rotary Club of Prince George Nechako, in partnership with ICBC and the RCMP, organizes free designated driving service.
This year had the fourth-highest number of rides provided. In 2010, volunteers provided a record 1,100 rides.
A total of 262 volunteers took part in the program this year, Johnson said.
"We had volunteers who were real troopers and came out all nine nights," she said. "We are so proud of not only them but our entire group of volunteers who sacrificed sleep and their weekends to help us. We couldn't have had the success we did without them."
Prince George is one of 13 communities in B.C. and 106 in Canada that host Operation Red Nose. Across the province 7,768 rides were provided by 4,346 volunteers.
A total of 56,437 volunteers provided 82,530 nation wide, during the 30th anniversary of the program.
