Uber users angry after free St. Patrick's Day rides fail in Indianapolis

In an effort to keep Indianapolis area residents from drinking and driving on St. Patrick's Day, Uber announced days in advance that they would be offering free rides to get people home safely.

But in the midst of the celebration, multiple users of the ride-sharing service reported getting nothing but errors when attempting to snag a free St. Patty's Day ride.

Last week, Uber officials said that punching in the promo code "INDYSTPATS" would get users one ride for up to $15 between 11 a.m. Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday. But online, multiple users said they received the error "promotion redemption limit exceeded" after hitting submit. 

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The original announcement from Uber made no mention of a limit to the free ride promotion. In response, Uber on Sunday released the following statement and apology.

"We are grateful that so many in the Indianapolis area planned ahead and chose to ride with Uber while celebrating the holiday. We anticipated for a lot of people to use this discount, and we prepared for the demand based on some of our busiest days in the market. Our team is going back to understand what we can do to help ensure we meet the expectations of our riders in the future and apologize to anyone if they were unable to use the promo code."

The statement does not explain the ride limitation further, nor does the company comment on why the promotion limit was omitted from the original announcement. 

Meanwhile, Twitter users expressed frustration at the promotion falling flat. Others were pledging their new allegiance to rival company, Lyft.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, from 2012 to 2016, the St. Patrick’s Day holiday period saw the loss of 269 lives due to drunk-driving crashes from 2012 to 2016. In 2016, 60 people were killed in alcohol fueled crashes over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday period.

Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.