Forget Uber!
Get a free ride in Amherst, MA on Thursday, October 31 or Friday, November 1, 11pm-2am by calling our hotline: 413-548-9474.
Learn more about Free Rides below!
What is Free Rides?
Free Rides is a drunk-driving prevention program run annually on Halloween weekend by MERCYhouse, a church in Amherst, MA. We offer free taxi rides to over 1,000 students every year who call into our Free Rides hotline. Our volunteers pick you up and drop you off where ever you need to go within the Amherst area!
How can I request a free ride?
Call our hotline 413-548-9474 between the hours of 11pm and 2am on October 31 or November 1 to request a ride within the Amherst area. Tell the operator your pick-up location, drop-off location, number of riders in your party, your name, phone number, and costumes to help your driver identify your group.
There is a high demand for our service, so our phone line does get busy. If the line is busy, hang up and call back again until you get through to our Switchboard Team. All calls are serviced on a first-call, first-serve basis. The wait time for pick-up varies depending on demand.
What happens once I submit my ride request?
Once you have submitted your request, your assigned driver will contact you from their personal number to confirm your pick-up location and provide the estimated time of pick-up. Once they arrive, they will call you and your van Host will meet you outside the vehicle.
Are these rides really FREE?
It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But YES! These rides are 100% free to you, the rider. As the rider, you receive a free ride because we have absorbed the cost of the ride ourselves (along with our sponsors). We hope you enjoy the gift!
Why do you give rides for free?
In short, we give rides for free because we believe in the good news of Jesus Christ and want to share this good news through a tangible act.
Why is Jesus “good news” and how does he connect to a free ride?
The Bible shows us that all people were created by God to reflect, know, and love Him and to love others. The problem is that each of us has rebelled against God’s good rule, and our self-rule has led to broken relationships with God and others, conflict, judgment of our sins, and ultimately death. That is some bad news right there.
BUT the good news is this: God, in his love, rescues humanity and restores his good rule by sending his Son, Jesus. Jesus lived the perfect life under God’s good rule that we could never live. He then paid the price of our judgment by dying the death we deserve. In his resurrection, he joyfully extends to us the forgiveness we need and the abundant life, love, and freedom for which we long as he graciously welcomes and enables us to live under his rule once again. We need only receive it!
In short, because of his love for us, God absorbed the great cost of our sins on the cross, in order to extend the free gift of life to rebels like us.
Sound familiar? A cost absorbed to joyfully extend something free? MERCYhouse, our sponsors, and our volunteers have absorbed the cost of your ride in order to joyfully give it to you for free, just as Jesus absorbed the cost of our sins in order to give us life and love freely.
I don’t really need a ride. Can I volunteer instead?
YES! Free Rides is a completely volunteer-run event and requires over 100 volunteers to pull it off every year. Volunteer shifts begin at 10pm (9:30pm for Van Hosts) and go until 2:30am. Free food is provided and lots of fun will be had! Click below to volunteer and contact Meghan Berry, Free Rides Director, with any questions about volunteering, about the Free Rides program in general, or about the good news of Jesus.
Free Rides is offered in partnership with many local businesses and organizations. Thank you to our sponsors: Bueno Y Sano, UMass Amherst Alumni Association, Amherst Innovative Living, Soundscape Merchandise, Insomnia Cookies, and Judie’s Restaurant.