Car Accidents • 7 min read
Greenville's trolley stops at 10 p.m. but bars serve until 2 a.m. Learn how to get home safe after a big event and what to do if a drunk driver hits you.
Key Takeaways
The safest way home after a big Greenville event is a ride you arranged before your first drink. Downtown, the trolley and the Greenlink buses stop running hours before the bars close at 2 a.m., so if you wait until last call to decide, you're choosing between a rideshare surge and a drive you shouldn't make.
Nobody plans to drive home impaired. However, when your car is already parked downtown and home is 20 minutes away in Simpsonville or Greer, it's easy to talk yourself into taking the risk. If you've been injured by a drunk driver, the team at Armada Law Injury Attorneys is here to help.
The 2024 South Carolina Traffic Collision Fact Book recorded 143,801 collisions statewide. In 4,705 of them, driving under the influence was the main cause, and those crashes killed 257 people. In Greenville County alone, there were 16,478 collisions that year, more than any other county in the state.
South Carolina also has the highest drunk driving death rate in the country. In 2024, the state had 417 alcohol-impaired driving deaths, 40 percent of all 1,038 traffic deaths, compared with a national share of 30 percent. Measured per 100 million miles driven, South Carolina's rate of 0.67 was the highest of any state, against a national rate of 0.36.
Greenville's biggest events share the same shape: a large crowd, alcohol served for hours, and everyone leaving at the same time. These are the ones that put the most drinking drivers on the road home:
People often leave these events after Greenville's trolley and buses have stopped for the night, or close to it, and most of that crowd came by car.
The current trolley schedule, the Greenlink bus schedule, and South Carolina's 2 a.m. cutoff line up like this:
| Service | When it runs |
| Free downtown trolley (Route 910, Main Street) Friday 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday 1 to 10 p.m., | Sunday 1 to 8 p.m. |
| Greenlink buses | Last departure 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday. No service Sunday. |
| Bars and restaurants | Alcohol sales allowed until 2 a.m. under state law; some downtown bars have city permission to stay open that late on Friday and Saturday. |
On a Saturday night downtown, that leaves roughly four hours between the last trolley and last call with no public way to get anyone home, and that gap is where many drunk driving accidents in Greenville take place. There is no city, sheriff's office, or restaurant group safe-ride program in Greenville to fill it. AAA's Tow to Go will tow an impaired driver and their car home for free, but only on designated holiday weekends and only within 10 miles, which doesn't cover the drive back from Clemson.
The plan that works is the one you make in the afternoon, sober, when the decision is easy. Here's what we'd tell a neighbor who is heading downtown for the night:
| beer sales | about 45 minutes before the end, and Fall for Greenville stops 30 minutes before |
| closing, so order your ride then. |
Most of these plans end with the car parked downtown overnight, and that's the part that worries people the most, whether it's a tow, a ticket, or a broken window.
It depends on where you park, so check the posted signs when you pull in rather than at midnight. City of Greenville garages are the safer bet for leaving a car overnight, while private lots, restaurant lots, and event-day pop-up lots are where towing risk lives. As of February 1, 2026, city garages are free for the first two hours, then $6 for the third hour and $2 an hour after that, with a $10 daily maximum and a flat $10 for event parking. A $10 parking charge and a ride back the next morning is the cheapest way the night can end.
Sometimes the driver who didn't plan is the one who hits you. What you do in the first hour and the first week matters more than you'd expect, so start with these:
| alcohol or was slurring, because the | officer's impairment findings become part of the record | . |
When the insurance company calls, it's fine to say you'll follow up later. The paperwork that pays for your car and a claim for your injuries are two different things, so before you sign a release to get the car paid off, read what it releases. Slow down, ask questions, and let one of our Greenville drunk driving accident lawyers read it with you.
In South Carolina, a bar, restaurant, or event vendor may share responsibility if it keeps serving someone who is clearly drunk and that person later causes a crash. Under Act 42, effective January 1, 2026, the business that served the alcohol is responsible for half of the injured person's damages when a jury finds both the business and a DUI-charged driver at fault. Proving that a business over-served the driver takes investigation, and that's work our team can take off your plate while you recover.
Most Greenville event nights end fine, but the ones that don't usually trace back to a decision someone made hours earlier. If someone else's decision left you hurt, you shouldn't have to sort out the insurance company, the criminal case, and the medical bills on your own. Our team at Armada Law Injury Attorneys stands shoulder to shoulder with South Carolina neighbors after a drunk driving accident. Reach out today at 833-332-3128 or fill out the form on our contact page.
Written and Reviewed by: Chris Carsten
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