A new business in Jacksonville is offering a way for people to visit local bars without getting behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Brew Loop, started by two local men, provides transportation between multiple bars in the area with the goal of reducing impaired driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur main goal is just that instead of saying we are gonna go out and drink and drive, we are gonna go ride the bus,\u201d said founder Richard Flowers.<\/p>\n
The service operates a bus with a capacity of 13 passengers per stop and can serve up to 65 riders per route. For a $20 one-way fee, customers can travel between five different bars in Jacksonville. Routes typically run until 1 to 2 a.m.<\/p>\n
Flowers said the idea came from seeing how common it is for people to drive between bars after drinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people know about DWIs but at the same time you see a whole bar full and cars in the parking lot,\u201d Flowers said. \u201cIt\u2019s giving them an alternative to drinking and driving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Co-founder Jacob Harper said the mission is personal for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he told me about the idea it really touched me because my grandma passed away from a drunk driver,\u201d Harper said. \u201cThis just gives a better option.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Brew Loop does not provide door-to-door pickup, the founders say it offers a more affordable option compared to rideshare services, especially for those visiting multiple locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to go to five different bars, it\u2019s going to cost you a lot more than just $20 a night,\u201d Harper said.<\/p>\n
The business launched about three weeks ago and has already seen growing demand. Owners say ridership increased from about 10 to 15 people during its second weekend to around 30 riders the following weekend, with advance tickets already being sold for upcoming routes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new business in Jacksonville is offering a way for people to visit local bars without getting behind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-198811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}