A taxi stand was installed last month in front of Bergen Place Park at 22nd Avenue Northwest at Northwest Market Street to promote a new designated driver and safe-ride home program.

It's part of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center's Last Call. The goal of the program is to reduce injuries and deaths related to drunk driving as part of a three-year project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last Call already partners with bars and restaurants in Fremont, Belltown, Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square to promote the stands to people who may have had too much to drink.

Those neighborhoods, along with Ballard, were named as Seattle's most popular drinking spots in telephone and street surveys conducted by the program of 21-to-34-year-olds.

Taxi stands have been installed in those four neighborhoods, too, with the first one opening in Fremont last fall. It's been successful there so far, said Suzette Riley, coordinator of Last Call.

For the first few weekend nights, about 80 people were picked up at the taxi stand location, Riley estimated.

Taxi rides aren't free under the program, but getting a cab is more accessible than hoping to catch one as it drives by.

Just one bar in Ballard, the Tractor Tavern, has paid the $250 tax-deductible donation to participate in Last Call. Riley is working on an outreach campaign to get others onboard.

That donation helps the program pay for marketing and promotional materials like coasters and signs that are distributed and displayed at the bars and in bathrooms. Bar owners are also asked to provide perks for designated drivers like a free cover charge or unlimited non-alcoholic drinks for the night.

Tim Murphy, a manager at the Tractor on Ballard Avenue for 11 years, said even though it's only been about a month, it seems to be making a difference with his patrons.

"It's making people more aware that the service is there," Murphy said. "It's making people more aware that they have options."

Promoting safe drinking behavior is becoming more important on Ballard Avenue, he said, because the street has become wilder as the crowds have gotten increasingly younger during the past few years.

"Certain places have attracted a different element," Murphy said. "$250 can seem like a lot, but I think it's worth it, especially with how the street is evolving - it's getting a little tougher."

Though there's been a fair amount of studies that indicate educational programs work to reduce drunk driving, there's been nothing to say that a coaster or a sign prevents people from getting behind the wheel after one too many cocktails, said Riley.

"We've just started and we're just testing this," she said.

How many people are actually using the taxi stands is also difficult to evaluate. Since cabs aren't dispatched to the stands and stop there voluntarily, there are no hard numbers to assess, said Riley.

Last Call will compare injury and death statistics and telephone survey results with Portland and Spokane, two nearby cities without programs like Last Call.

"The idea is that if we show a shift in behavior in Seattle, but there's not a shift in Portland and Spokane, we'll know Last Call is having an impact," Riley said.

Almost one out of five Seattle drinkers reported they had driven after knowingly consuming too much alcohol in the past month, according to a telephone survey conducted last spring by Last Call.

About 38 percent of drivers had heard of a designated driver program, while only 1 percent had used one in the past year. On the other hand, almost half had taken a cab home after a night of drinking in the last year.

Last Call has also started a new text messaging service to boost accessibility. Text message "lastcall" to the number 22122, and a list of taxi stand locations and phone numbers will be sent to a person's cell phone.

"That way if someone's in a bar and can't quite remember where the stand is, they can find out," Riley said.

Taxis are available at the stands Thursday through Saturday nights from 11:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. For more information contact http://www.lastcallseattle.org