Many steer clear of downtown Toronto to avoid travel woes on New Year's Eve. However, you'll be happy to note that the TTC will be free from 7 p.m. on December 31, 2015 until 7 a.m. on January 1, 2016.

If you don't want to ride the vomit comet, can't hail a cab or refuse to pay exorbitant amounts of money to Uber, there's a new app that's giving away free rides tonight.

Local startup InstaRyde launched this fall but it's making its big push into the Toronto market with its New Year's Eve promotion happening today from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Each new user will get five promo codes worth $25 each. CEO and co-founder Karim Sumar says InstaRyde uses local drivers just like UberX. It's currently operating in Toronto and Mississauga - Sumar notes that many initial pick-ups happen outside of the downtown core.

A regular "Ryde" suitable for four passengers requires a $3.50 minimum fare and breaks down as follows: the base fare is $2.50 plus $0.18 per minute and $0.80 per kilometre. RydeXL, Black and BlackXL options naturally cost more. You'll be happy to note that the app currently doesn't include surge pricing.

Regardless of how you get around tonight, be safe and don't be stupid; you don't want to find yourself somewhere like L'Hotel de York Regional Police.

Photo by Nick Kernick in the theGentries Flickr pool.

Update: Don't despair if the InstaRyde codes aren't working just yet. You'll be able to use them starting at 6 p.m. this evening.