Watch out, Uber and Lyft. Another ridesharing service, BeMyDD, has quietly grown to more than 76 cities in the United States, including Greenville.
Rather than using a taxi service model, however, BeMyDD operates like a chauffeur service – one in which drivers use the customers’ personal vehicles.
“It’s a totally different type spin on traditional ride-sharing services,” said the company’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Michael Donner.
The company has branded itself as a way to take the pain out of choosing a designated driver when planning a fun night out on the 
town. People can request drivers though a smartphone app, online or by calling the company.
Cofounder and CEO Arthur Simanovsky said he and fellow cofounder Alexa Milkovich came up with the idea as a “better way to get out and enjoy our city.” They wanted to have a fun time going out with friends but didn’t want to have to worry about how much they had to drink or choosing someone to be the designated driver.
So in 2010 they started BeMyDD in Cleveland, Ohio.
The company offers three types of services. The most popular one costs about $18 an hour for a driver to pick up customers at their homes and drive them anywhere they want to go.
Simanovsky and Milkovich said the service keeps people from getting a DUI or worse, injuring or killing someone because of drunk driving.
One person died every 51 minutes in 2012 because of drunk driving crashes, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data reported by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). NHTSA 2014 data reports that drunk driving costs the United States $199 billion a year.
Simanovsky said many times studies will focus on the problems of drunk driving but won’t speak to possible solutions. “BeMyDD is that solution,” he said.
Donner said the company wants “customers to have a worry-free experience with us.” Company drivers go through phone and in-person interviews, as well as a thorough background check. BeMyDD also seeks to hire chauffeurs who have experience driving limousines, Simanovsky said.
The company has a $2 million insurance policy on every ride.
“[Customers] love their drivers, and they love the fact that they can go to multiple places throughout the night,” Milkovich said.
Before arriving at a home, drivers call the customer on the phone to make sure all the details are correct and establish a familiarity, Simanovsky said. Female customers may request a female driver to help them feel more comfortable. People will often request the same driver multiple times, he said.
In addition to picking up customers at their houses, the company also offers a service where a team of drivers will pick up a customer at a bar. One driver will take the customer and his car home and the other will follow in a chase car.
“People drive drunk because they don’t want to leave their car in the location they are at,” Donner said. BeMyDD saves people “the hassle of going back to pick up their car the next day.”
Businesspeople throwing a company party can choose the “Peace of Mind” plan to hire teams of drivers to make sure all partygoers get home safely, thereby decreasing the liability of the party host person should someone drive home drunk, Simanovsky said.
The plan functions like a shuttle service, providing “a safety net,” Milkovich said.
“Here you have a designated driver who’ll chauffeur you around in the luxury of your own car. You can’t beat it,” Donner said.
