Portland wants to give St. Patrick's Day revelers ample incentive to avoid making the dangerous, illegal and potentially catastrophic decision to drink and drive on Saturday.

The city is offering discounted taxi, Uber and Lyft rides for a less than 24-hour period starting Saturday afternoon through its new Safe Ride Home program, paid in part thanks to a 50 cents surcharge on all trips through the ride-hailing service.

"Over 50 percent of deadly crashes in Portland involve people who are impaired," Leah Treat, Portland Bureau of Transportation director, "As we continue our Vision Zero efforts, we are working to make our roads safer for all users. Thanks to our private for-hire ride fee, we will continue to fund this important initiative."

It's the second time the city has offered discount travel options during popular drinking holidays. On New Year's Eve, more than 2,500 took advantage of the discounted rides, according to the city. TriMet was also free after 8 p.m. on New Year's. There is no such offer available this weekend.

Uber and Lyft each chipped in $10,000 toward ride discounts on New Year's Eve, and the companies pledged to do the same for Saturday's holiday.

"We want to encourage folks to be safe and let us be their designated driver this weekend," said Nathan Lawless, Lyft Oregon's market manager. The company said it will have a drop-off and pickup site outside the popular Irish bar, Kells in downtown Portland.

The city of Portland will chip in with another $15,000 per company if Uber and Lyft hit the $10,000 threshold.

Uber and Lyft users will qualify for a $5 discount by using specific codes (Lyft has coupon code SAFERIDEHOME, Uber will use SAFERIDEPDX). Those discounts will be available from 2 p.m. Saturday until 4 a.m. Sunday.

The city is also offering $20 coupons for a variety of cab services (See a list of participating businesses to snag a coupon on Saturday at this website). Portland Police Bureau officers in the Central City will also have coupons.. The city spent $12,000 on discounts for the New Year's holiday.

Dylan Rivera, a city transportation spokesman, said riders would not be paid the difference if their ride cost less than $20. If your ride costs $25, you'll owe $5. "Please remember to tip your drivers," Rivera added.

Portland has hauled in $6.7 million from the ride surcharge since it started collecting in 2016. Rivera said the fee "allows the city to ensure we have safe, convenient rides available for everyone, including people with disabilities."

The surcharge also pays for 18 staffers to monitor the ride-hailing industry. The team's 10 inspectors have conducted more than 3,300 field audits in 2017 alone. "We believe that's the highest number of safety audits of any city in the nation," Rivera said in an email, "except for New York City."

Portland is still looking to develop "strategies to improve service to people with disabilities, who require wheelchair accessible vehicles," Rivera said.

The city plans to use the surcharge cash to pay for a "thorough study" of whether the ride-hailing services add to or reduce congestion. "Because of this emerging program, and the rapid growth of the industry, we have only spent about $3.7 million of the total surcharge revenue collected," Rivera said. A KGW story this week pointed out the program's surplus.

Rivera said it's not clear if, or when, the city would offer discounted rides again this year, but it's considering other holidays: "Given that impairment is the number one behavior contributing to traffic deaths on Portland streets, this program offers important alternatives to drinking and driving on key holidays."

Local and regional law enforcement officers all said this week that they planned to ramp up enforcement for driver under the influence of alcohol or intoxicants this weekend.

According to federal statistics, 60 people were killed on St. Patrick's Day last year nationwide.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen