Vanpooling
What is vanpooling?
What are the benefits of a vanpooling program?
How ATP helps
How can I encourage employee participation?
Vanpooling and Metrochek
Online resources
What is vanpooling?
Vanpooling is an arrangement by a group of commuters to drive together in a van to their place (or places) of business. Full-size vans and minivans carry 7 to 15 passengers and therefore are the next step up from carpools. Vanpools usually consist of individuals who live near each other and are employees of the same company (or are employees of different companies located only a short distance apart) and have the same work hours.
Here's how it works:
- A group of commuters lease the van on a month-to-month basis (no long-term commitment). In some cases employers will lease or even purchase the van for their employees, and occasionally employees will use their own vehicles. Most often though, the vehicle is leased from a private vanpool company.
- One member of the group volunteers to be the driver and collects the riders' monthly fares. The driver gets personal use of the van, and in many groups doesn't pay, depending on how the group wants to work it.
- The vanpool leasing company usually covers maintenance and repairs, insurance, and even provides a backup van when needed.
What are the benefits of a vanpooling program?
Vanpooling is an important option for employers who must recruit employees from further distances. As an employer, you can operate or sponsor a vanpool service yourself or contract with an outside vanpool leasing company independently, charging a monthly fare for a group of coworkers.
In the near future, the state of Virginia plans to offer new monthly financial subsidies for eligible and participating vanpools. The Metropolitan Washington Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is developing and administering the program. In general, vanpools must originate in Northern Virginia and have destinations in the metropolitan Washington area. Participating vanpool operators will sign a service agreement and provide periodic mileage reports to WMATA.
Sharing the ride can save your employees up to $1,500 a year by lowering their gasoline bills, insurance costs, and car maintenance. Vanpoolers can take advantage of special High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to reach their destinations faster, and they can choose to read, sleep or chat, when they're not behind the wheel. The environment benefits too. Last year, area carpools and vanpools prevented over 62 tons of harmful emissions from entering the Earth's atmosphere and saved over one million gallons of gasoline.
The average cost for a 30 mile, drive-alone commute is $229 per month. Your employees can save $145 per month by joining or forming a vanpool!
Advantages of Vanpooling
- Facilitates use of HOV lanes for faster travel
- Reduces need for parking
- Employees arrive relaxed and ready to work
- Easier recruitment and retention of employees who live in outlying towns and suburbs
- Viable option for employees who don't drive
- Back-up transportation for ridesharing employees who work late
- Metrochek is accepted towards monthly vanpool fee by most area vanpools
How ATP helps:
Arlington Transportation Partners can help you set up company-sponsored or employee-sponsored vanpools, or find existing vanpool vacancies for your employees. We can:
- Design vanpool programs and assist in start up
- Identify potential vanpool riders and drivers
- Organize employee information meetings
- Serve as liaison with vanpool operators and consultants
- Help employees establish routes and policies for employee-operated vanpools
Ways to encourage your employees to vanpool:
There are numerous ways you can get the word out and encourage employee participation in a vanpooling program, including:
- Offering tax-free transit benefits
- Subsidizing the cost of vanpooling for employees by offering SmartBenefits
- Offering free or reduced-fee parking for vanpools (for employers who currently have fee-based employee parking).
- Charging a parking fee to discourage single-occupant vehicles (for employers who previously offered free parking).
- Providing preferential parking (closer to the building) for vanpoolers
- Hosting a lunch time vanpool formation party to let employees form or join vanpools
- Providing information to employees on the Commuter Connections Ridematching service and Guaranteed Ride Home program. Arlington Transportation Partners has brochures and posters available.
Vanpooling and SmartBenefits:
Many vanpool companies in the region accept SmartBenefits, thus this would be a good commuter benefit to offer in conjunction with vanpooling.
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Online resources:
CommuterPage.com's Vanpool Links and Resources
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