As the snow begins to fall and the holiday cheer unfolds, we wanted to wish you a safe and happy holiday season. The blog will be going into hibernation until early January, but in the meantime, feel free to browse around. And have no fear we’ll be back and ready for some 2010 vanpooling action.
Holiday cheers,
The folks at VPSI Inc.
(Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20406121@N04/ / CC BY-ND 2.0)
The following post was written by Mark Royer from Moorpark, California. It was originally submitted to our iPhone contest, but it was so enjoyable that we had to share it with our readers.
Before I began vanpooling, I was putting over 20,000 miles a year on my Toyota Corolla. After I began vanpooling, my miles were more than cut in half. That means I can drive my car a lot longer without having to replace it.
But the Toyota dealer is having a tough time of it. They keep sending me notices that I need service, based on my old mileage, and I am nowhere near the odometer reading they assert I am approaching. Also, I really enjoy the fellowship with the other riders in the van. So it is a great deal for everyone but the Toyota dealer.
Fort Bragg shares a similar situation with many large to medium size cities. Fort Bragg and the surrounding region was built using a suburban sprawl model. Therefore moving about makes motor vehicle travel a necessity. Internal and external roadways are overburdened, traffic accidents continue to increase, and funding to build roadway capacity does not exist. Assuming funding were available, the time factor involved in roadway construction delays any relief in the afore mentioned shortcomings.
But there’s good news! According to a recent story published in the Fayetteville Observer, a new high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane will now help commuters travel to Fort Bragg.
We wanted to find out how this new HOV lane would benefit vanpoolers commuting to the fort, so we asked Charles Young, Fort Bragg’s Sustainable Transportation Planner, what he thought.
VP.com: What kind of an impact do you think these new HOV lanes will make on vanpooling at Fort Bragg?
CY: The HOV lanes as applies to vanpools conceptually will do two things: 1) reward those who vanpool with quicker access to post through the ACPs, and 2) greatly reduce the number of vehicles traversing post. The obvious advantage to Fort Bragg will be reduced demand on the roadway network. Consider that a single vanpool will replace an average of seven vehicles yields a high impact solution.
VP.com: Do you know if this is the only HOV lane that goes to a military installation in the country?
CY: I am not aware of HOV access at any other Army post. I am not sure about other services.
VP.com: How has vanpooling helped Fort Bragg commuters?
CY: The Army’s Mass Trans Benefit Program essentially reduces commuting costs to $0.00. Individuals that normally use a POV for commutes save not only the direct costs of commuting, but dollars associated with vehicle ownership. Suffice to say that once fully engaged, a family may find that only one vehicle, rather than two are needed to care for a family’s transportation needs. Savings are likely to be $5,000 - $7,500 annually per family.
If you chose “other,” what does your vanpool do? Enter it in the comments below.
The Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center serves over 44,000 enrolled veterans in 25 eastern Oklahoma counties. The VAMC includes a hospital and outpatient clinic in Muskogee, a VA-staffed Community Based Outpatient Clinic and a separate Behavioral Health Clinic in Tulsa.
VPSI helped launch a new vanpool program in early September. So far, 72 employees are participating, helping to free up 61 parking spaces.
The program consists of nine vans, plus a loaner for emergencies. Vanpool services extend from Muskogee to Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Eufaula, Tahlequah and Claremore.
“It’s a great opportunity to work with the VAMC, helping them launch their vanpool program,” said VPSI’s Alice Lee-Cook. “We were able to organize several vanpool groups commuting into Muskogee, and one group with a reverse commute to Tulsa.”
“Feedback from vanpool riders is very positive so far,” said Reggie Hardy, Vanpool Coordinator. “The vanpoolers enjoy not having to drive their own automobiles to work and hunt for parking spaces. They also like the savings the program provides.”
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