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Vanpools provide ITD employees option
for combating rising fuel prices

Reed Hollinshead
Every morning, I drive past the ACHD Vanpool van in the east parking lot. And every time I see it, I wonder about the merits of alternative transportation in light of skyrocketing gas prices. I bet I’m not the only one thinking about it.

There are four ACHD vans that drop off and pick up employees at ITD’s State Street location, and two of them park at Headquarters during the day.

“The vans are not exclusively ITD vans, so the numbers fluctuate on how many ITD employees are riding,” said ACHD Commuteride’s Annette Harper, the Employer Assistance Representative.

Riders must pay a monthly fee for the service.

One van (#79) serves the Caldwell/Nampa-to-ITD and the work hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This van has seven ITD riders, three other riders that are not linked to ITD, and has four open spots. It is $90 per month for Caldwell commuters and $80 per month from Nampa.

Another van (#88) serves the Mountain Home-to-ITD area and the work hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This van has four ITD riders, two other riders that are not linked to ITD, and has seven open spots. The cost is $105 per month.

Both of these vans park at ITD Headquarters during the day. In addition, two other vans serve ITD but do not park at Headquarters. They pick up after work hours.

The third van (#95) serves Emmett with arrival/departure times of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. It has one rider from ITD, and the rest are from other locations. There are four openings. The cost is $90 per month.

The fourth van (#134) serving ITD runs through the Eagle/Star area and runs 7:30 to 4:30. It also has just one rider from ITD, and has four spots open. Currently, the cost from Eagle is $65 and $75 from Star.

Harper said they have seen an increase in ridership over the last few months on all vanpools (they operate 77 vans in the area, with five more coming on line in June. Due to demand, they’ve added 12 new routes since October).

“We've had a real increase in vanpool interest over the last couple of months as prices rise and the
construction season starts,” added Vanpool Operations Coordinator Cecelia Hockett.

In fact, the number of “passenger miles” in the first three months of this year was up nearly 18 percent over the same time period in 2007, and the number of riders in March, 838, was 20 percent more than used the van just a year ago.

Besides beating high gas prices, there are some perks for riders. All new vanpool members ride the first month free. New riders on Commuteride Vanpools and Valley Ride buses will be subsidized $20 for each of the first three months by ITD through a Transi Chek. You must use the vans for three consecutive months to get the discount.

To learn more about Commuteride’s transportation services, call 345-POOL (7665) or visit www.commuteride.com. You also may contact Harper at 387-6167 for more information or to register.

The vanpool site offers information and features a commuter calculator tool to determine your cost. For instance, if you work full-time, drive a car that gets about 20 miles to the gallon at today’s fuel prices, and commute 15 miles round-trip for work, you’re spending about $210 per month on gas.

What else could you do with that money?