Vanpool 101: What It Is, Why It Works and How to Get Started
For employees with long commutes, getting to work can be expensive, stressful and sometimes just plain difficult. That’s especially true when transit doesn’t serve their route or their shift starts before service begins. Vanpooling gives employers another way to help.
During a recent Get There Portland Metro webinar, transportation experts walked Oregon employers through the new Get There by Vanpool program and the steps to bring vanpooling to their workplaces. The program is a new federally funded Oregon Department of Transportation initiative that includes vanpool subsidies and management services.
Here are the basics employers need to know, and how to get started today.
What is a vanpool?
Think of a vanpool as a carpool built for a bigger group. Vanpooling can be especially helpful for employees commuting about 20 miles or more each way. It can also fill transportation gaps for employees who live or work in places without convenient transit, or whose work schedules don’t line up with existing service.
A group of employees with similar schedules shares a rented vehicle for getting to and from work. The group determines the route and can pick people up at their homes, meet at central locations or combine the two approaches. Participants in the vanpool share driving responsibilities.
Unlike a traditional carpool, vanpool participants aren’t putting the miles on someone’s personal vehicle. Vanpools are considered a form of public transit and, when publicly funded, can be eligible for subsidies.
That flexibility can be particularly useful for employers with multiple shifts. As Jeff Pazdalski of Westside Transportation Alliance explained during the webinar, vanpools aren’t dependent on transit schedules, making them an option for shifts that begin before transit service starts or end after it stops.
A new subsidy makes vanpooling more affordable
One of the biggest developments for Oregon employers is Get There by Vanpool, a new statewide program from the Oregon Department of Transportation. Through the program, the subsidy can cover up to 50% of a vanpool’s monthly cost. The remaining cost can be shared among riders, covered by an employer or paid through a combination of the two. A vanpool is eligible for the subsidy when it starts or ends in Oregon.
Commute with Enterprise administers the subsidy and provides vanpool management services, including rider matching, vehicle rental, maintenance and insurance, rider billing management and a guaranteed ride home program. In other words, your workplace doesn’t have to build a vanpool program from scratch.
What could vanpooling do for your workplace?
Vanpooling isn’t just a commuter perk. It can help employers address several common workplace challenges.
Support recruitment and retention
A long or expensive commute can make it harder to attract and retain employees, particularly when your workforce is coming from communities farther away from the job site. A vanpool program can give those employees another commuting option and help reduce their transportation costs.
Reduce parking demand
Every shared van means fewer people arriving in separate vehicles. That can help workplaces with limited or expensive parking make better use of the space they already have.
Expand transportation options
Not every workplace is conveniently located near transit, and not every worker has a traditional 9-to-5 schedule. Vanpooling can serve employees whose commute distances, work locations or shift times make other transportation choices impractical.
Support sustainability goals
Commute with Enterprise also provides employer partners with data about their vanpool program, including single-occupancy vehicle miles reduced and estimates of associated CO2 emission reductions.
Ready to start a vanpool program?
Good news: You don’t need to know whether you have enough employees to fill a van before getting started. The webinar outlined a straightforward process for employers interested in exploring vanpooling. The first step is learning more about where employees are commuting from, when they work and what transportation challenges they experience. This is also where Get There Portland Metro can help. We work with Portland-area businesses to create customized commute programs and provide support with program planning, marketing and messaging, online trip-planning and vanpool-matching tools, rewards and incentives, and workplace travel surveys.
Ready to learn more? Reach out and we’d be happy to help.
Watch the webinar recording here.