It was dusk, and a storm was building in the western hills, blocking the sunset. The road was filled with remnants of crusted snow and ice, but that didn't stop Kevin Sandberg.

"Ucallus Designated Drivers," Sandberg said, answering his cell phone for the third time. It's the same intoxicated woman who's been calling for the past 15 minutes. "Addison Street? OK, we'll be right there."

His 1996 Lexus sedan navigated the snow-packed road like a toboggan, and in less than five minutes Sandberg pulled up to a young woman smoking a cigarette. She stumbled in the slush and ice and reached the car.

"Sorry, I'm kinda fucked up. How much money do you need?" she asked.

"It's a donation-based service. Whatever you think the ride's worth," Sandberg said. "You'll need to put out your cigarette."

"OK, it's out. Hold on, I need to call someone."

"Sweetheart, first you need to tell me where to go."

She made her call anyway, and Sandberg patiently waited as she discussed the rest of her night over the phone.

"Sweetheart, I need to know where we're going," Sandberg said, raising his voice.

"We're going to Albertson's on Reserve."

Ucallus, a nonprofit designated-driver service, is Sandberg's brainchild. When it launched last October, it had been four years in the works. Financial backing finally came in the form of his friend and now business partner, Jim Fragnito.

The donation-based nonprofit is a way to combat the capitalist market, and it's working.

In October Sandberg was lucky to get 60 calls a week. Now those same 60 calls come in a single busy Thursday or Friday night, and locals are starting to notice the Ucallus name and magnet on the sides of their cars.

Drunken driving is a continuing problem in Montana, with 6,664 citations for driving under the influence in 2010, and 1,300 of those in Missoula County, according to the local DUI Task Force.

The task force's strategy is two-fold: providing education and prevention programs while increasing patrols in search of impaired drivers — a balance of hard and soft power.

"Kevin's program is a whole new approach," Lonie Hutchison, the Task Force's coordinator, said. "All other attempts have fallen by the wayside."

Hutchinson has watched the Public Service Commission require a hearing to discuss if a town can support another taxi service each time an alternative arises.

But Sandberg found the loophole — an interesting clause stating that if a company is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it would be exempt from Public Service Commission jurisdiction.

"They want to call it a loophole, but it's been sitting there, just no one's ever used it," Sandberg said.

Sandberg, a former Yellow Cab employee, applied for nonprofit status in March 2011, but he wasn't safe from the commission's regulations and inevitable fines until he was finally federally approved on Dec. 6, 2011.

Ucallus got their first cars on the road on Oct. 1, 2011, but criticisms swarmed from his former employer, Yellow Cab, and the Public Service Commission.

"The PSC has their own cop, and one drove down from Helena to issue me a $500 ticket and told me to stop doing what I was doing," he said. "Well I didn't stop, and he came back and gave me another one."

Some may call his business communism, but Sandberg calls it the right thing to do. If customers are out of cash, their ride will be the same quality as someone who donates $100. The philosophy goes that if they're happy with the service, the tip will be worth more than a concrete fee.

"It's another option for people," said Linda Green, the University of Montana Health Enhancement coordinator. "The more options the better. I think it's great they're operating on a donation system because it could make it more accessible for students."

A young man coming by Sandberg's sedan at the Broadway Hoagieville last Wednesday echoed her thoughts.

"Hey, hey, how does it work?" he yelled through the Lexus' open window. "You pick drunk people up, right? You save peoples' lives. Thank you guys. You guys are the shit."

The DUI Task Force expects DUI statistics to keep rising, but Sandberg has a different take on the numbers.

He thinks they're due to a legal crack down and that drivers are at the discretion of the officer. "You don't have to blow a .08 to get a DUI. If you have it on your breath — bam — you're going to jail."

It's approaching midnight on a busy Thursday — almost bar rush. Mike Grafft, Ucallus's top driver and former Yellow Cab employee of 17 years, has a Bluetooth headset in one ear in contact with his son, Aaron, the other driver tonight. His other cell phone is buzzing, as he attempts to keep up with tonight's customers on his clipboard.

"I'm not after their customers," Grafft said. "Yellow Cab can still take people to the stores, take them to the airport and take them down to Hamilton. I'm here to get the drunk people home and the drunk people safe — bottom line."

Ucallus is planning to put five cars on the road. They're in the process of acquiring a fourth car and hiring two more drivers. Their vision is toward the rest of Montana — Bozeman, Butte and Billings — where similar DUI cultures are present.

"There are too many drunks out there at two o'clock in the morning for Yellow Cab's four cars and the two Green Taxis to do enough damage," Sandberg said.

Ucallus drove 126 safe trips on a busy New Years Eve, but despite the success, 16 DUIs were handed out that night.

"That's my whole gig. To help these people not be criminals and give them another alternative," Sandberg said.

michael.beall@umontana.edu