A Greenwood man says seeing friends and customers get behind the wheel after a night out motivated him to create an inexpensive, easy solution to minimizing drunk driving — the Shotgun Shuttle.
Webster’s manager and bartender Lee Hodges said that over and over again customers asked him if there were any cabs that could take them home after a night out.
“There’s just not anything like that in Greenwood,” said Hodges.
“I just saw the need for it because there was nothing for them to get home in, and people were cutting their nights short or getting DUIs.”
Hodges and his partner, Josh Stevens, a part-time bartender at Webster’s, bought a generic white van and renovated it to fit 10 people inside. Then they went about decking out the van’s interior, completing it with a built-in cooler, a stereo system, and seatbelts for every passenger. Thus, the Shotgun Shuttle was born.
The shuttle made its debut the week before Thanksgiving, and so far Greenwood residents have been keeping Hodges and Stevens busy, calling for pickups at all hours of the evening.
“The local hotels let their guests know about it, and the bouncers in town pass out cards when people walk in,” said Shawn Hodges, a graphic designer in Greenwood and the wife of Lee Hodges.
“Someone called him at 3 in the morning last weekend, and he went and picked them up,” she added.
Shawn said that the real value of the van, for Greenwood, is in the numbers.
“Last weekend, 30 people were taken home. That’s 30 people who did not drive intoxicated,” she said. “People are constantly getting DUIs. There’s just such a need for it. It gives you peace of mind to know that for five bucks you can not have to worry about getting a DUI.”
DUI numbers are down in Mississippi compared with previous years; in 2009, the state was in the top 10 states in the country for DUI-related deaths. Still, drunk driving is still a problem in Mississippi and in Leflore County. According to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, there were 991 DUI arrests made in Leflore County in 2011 and 70,307 in the state that year.
Lee Hodges said that the van is not just for bar-goers.
“They can be going anywhere, to a friend’s house for supper where they’re going to have a couple of glasses of wine. We can take them so they don’t have to worry about it,” he said.
According to Shawn Hodges, the van can also be rented for an entire evening.
“Groups have taken it out of town, to other Delta towns for dinner for a night. And someone asked us about going to Memphis for a concert,” she said.
She said that for nights like that, it’s good to book the shuttle ahead of time, but for people trying to get home at night, there’s no need to plan ahead.
“You can just call, and it will come pick you up. The van itself also rides around and picks people up without calling,” she said.
Lee said he is going to see how the business goes before he starts thinking about expanding. Shawn said they are working on a punch card to make ride accessible to people who may have run out of money.
“You could purchase a card for, say, your college kid, and it would have 10 rides on it prepaid, so you wouldn’t have to worry if you didn’t have money,” she said.
Shawn also said the van is equipped with a credit card swiper, so cash isn’t necessary.
Rides cost $5 a person, although there is a $10 minimum. Renting the van for a night costs $250.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
