Written by: Chris Apuzzo

Everyday, people dream about starting their own businesses. Junior Raymer Maguire took his dream a step further and made it reality at the beginning of 2010. Originally contemplating the idea in an entrepreneur class at Bentley, Raymer launched Boston’s Designated Drivers, which could revolutionize the way students go out and drink.

Boston’s DD is a shuttle service, much like a taxi service, except that is involves your own vehicle. You drive YOUR car to a desired drinking establishment, i.e. a bar, club or friend’s house, and when you are about to leave you call up Boston’s DD.

This service is open 24/7, and if you call 24 hours in advance, the drunk-driving alternative comes to wherever you are and drives YOUR car home for you, eliminating the two-way taxi fare you would otherwise pay if you choose to take a taxi.

In order for Boston’s DD to drive your car, you must first sign a contract/waiver stating that you have insurance and that Boston’s DD will not be responsible for any of the objects in the car. Insurance policies in Massachusetts involve the car, not the driver, so no matter who is driving they are covered by the car owner’s insurance. Keep in mind that Boston’s DD stresses that it is not a taxi service, but rather a service that drives your car back for you.

Right now, Boston’s DD is still an up-and-coming business, with four teams of drivers and a full-time manager Joe Stokes, who runs most of the business aspects of the company.

A team of drivers includes one person to drive to your location and then another driver to take your car to your desired destination. To book a driver, all you have to do is call up the Boston’s DD dispatcher at 617.652.0233 about twenty minutes before you want to get picked up and a team will be sent to you.

Since Boston’s DD just started up, it has a pretty simple pricing guide which uses fixed prices. If your destination is five miles or less away, you pay $30.00, if it’s between six and ten miles you pay $40.00, and if it’s between eleven and twenty miles you pay $50.00. Anything over twenty miles is an extra $3.00 for each additional mile.

As a promotion for Bentley students, Boston’s DD is offering $12.00 rides back from the bars that are located on Moody Street. This is the perfect substitute for having to drive back to Bentley drunk-and remember, buzzed driving is drunk driving.

Boston’s DD has eight partnering bars that offer an additional $5.00 off of the total fare. Some of these bars include Tommy Doyle’s in Harvard and Kendall Square, Bella Luna and the Milky Way, The Last Shot, Jake’s Roadhouse and an old Bentley favorite, The Skellig. (The $5.00 discount cannot be used with the $12.00 Bentley special from Moody Street).

With every ride, Boston’s DD gives all of its customers a free keychain bottle opener with the service’s number on it, which ensures you can contact them and are able to open up a cold one if needed. This key-shaped keychain provides Boston’s DD slogan of “You Drink. We Drive.” and is good for a dollar off any regular fare.

It is sometimes difficult to restrain from drink and driving, but Boston’s DD gives you another option. Don’t make the mistake of getting behind the wheel of your car after you have something to drink. Instead, call up Boston’s DD or check them out at www.bostonsdd.com.