Carpool and Vanpool Programs

What is carpooling?

Carpooling is an arrangement by a group of commuters to drive together in the same car to their place (or places) of business. Carpools 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.

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.

Why carpool or vanpool?

Carpooling and vanpooling reduce the number of cars on the road and in your building parking lot, and allow tenant employees to use the faster HOV lanes on I-66, I-95, and I-395 in Virginia and I-270 in Maryland. Advantages of carpooling:

Facilitates use of HOV lanes for faster travel
Employees have less stress traveling to work
Financial savings for employees sharing commuting costs
Reduces need for parking and therefore can reduce parking costs
Employees who carpool show improved productivity, less tardiness, and lower absenteeism

What are the benefits of a carpool program?

Sharing the ride can save your tenants employees up to $1,500 a year by lowering their gasoline bills, insurance costs, and car maintenance. Carpoolers 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 tenant’s employees can save $153 per month by joining or forming a carpool!

How to operate a carpool or vanpool subsidy program under site plan rules

Notify all employees in your building that the subsidy is available to them by:

Emailing the Human Resources manager for each tenant every three (3) months and asking them to relay the email to each employee.
Posting signs at the building entrances from the garage to invite employees to obtain the subsidy such as: “Need to save gas, time, and money? Ask the building manager about the carpool and vanpool program at 703-xxx-xxxx or email BuildingMgr@siteplan.com “
Sample sign / flyer (PDF)

Sign up participants

Explain the rules to the participants and record their contact information.

Car Pool / Van Pool Policy for Site Plans with Transportation Demand Management Conditions

Many site plan conditions have car pool and van pool conditions similar to:

Free parking for vanpools;
Carpools (with 3 or more members) shall receive a parking subsidy equal to one half the single occupant vehicle monthly parking rate.

This means that for carpools (two (2) or more people or three (3) or more people, depending on the site plan), any carpool vehicle that has previously informed the building management of their intent to carpool, is entitled to park at the rate specified in the site plan (most likely this would be administered monthly). The person obtaining the parking pass would have to work in the building. The rider’s names and contact information shall be registered with the Property Transportation Coordinator for verification.

This means that for vanpools (seven (7) or more people), any vanpool vehicle that has previously informed the building management of their intent to van pool, is entitled to park at the rate specified in the site plan (most likely this would be administered monthly). The person obtaining the parking pass would have to work in the building. The rider’s names and contact information shall be registered with the Property Transportation Coordinator for verification.

The subsidy is the responsibility of the owner of the building, or assigned to a third party. The assignment could be through a tenant lease. The subsidy can be managed through the building management with cooperation from the garage operator.

More information from Arlington Transportation Partners

Back to Top

Carpool, Vanpool Program Resources

Sample sign/flyer announcing carpool program (PDF)