Van Pools Blog

Archive for the ‘Interviews and Experts’ Category

Environmental Impact at a Glance: August 2011

September 1st, 2011 0 Comments

During August 2011, 5,684 VPSI vanpools logged more than $11 million in fuel savings and freed up 38,538 parking spaces. Here are the month’s environmental-impact statistics:

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Read All About it: “Commuter Chronicle” Hits the Streets

August 30th, 2011 0 Comments

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The fall 2011 VPSI Commuter Chronicle newsletter is on the virtual newsstands.

This time, the newsletter spotlights some of the things we’re doing to enhance our programs around the country, as well as some of the people that make vanpooling such a special and unique alternative to traditional commuting.

Click here to check out the Commuter Chronicle. And please let us know what you think.

VPSI is headed to Chicago for the 2011 ACT International Conference!

August 23rd, 2011 0 Comments

By Michelle Isaac and Jesse Kafka

The Association for Commuter Transportation’s (ACT) 2011 International Conference will be in Chicago from August 27 to August 31, and many VPSI representatives will be on hand to participate by learning and leading.
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ACT is an international trade association that connects Transportation Demand Management (TDM) professionals with each other and supports programs that reduce traffic, conserve energy, and improve air quality. As the nation’s leading commuter vanpool provider, VPSI sees the interactions we have through ACT with our partners in other TDM roles as an invaluable way to achieve our goals.

We hold the common the goal of getting people out of their cars and into a commute mode that reduces the financial and environmental impacts of a single-occupancy vehicle commute. VPSI is represented in the 2011 Leadership Academy, which commences on Friday, August 26th; the Board of Directors, which meets on Saturday, August 27th; and in many of ACT’s chapters and councils, which have meetings and workshops scheduled throughout the conference.
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VIDEO: Introducing Tales from the Van

June 9th, 2011 1 Comment

During the past few months, we’ve asked vanpoolers to share some of their experiences about their commuting adventures with their ride-sharing pals.

Now we’re bringing it to the next level. And, again, we’re asking you to join in.

Last week, we traveled along with a group of vanpoolers riding to work in Detroit from Ann Arbor. We also brought along a video camera and asked them to talk about what it is they like about sharing their commute with their fellow vanpoolers.

As you might expect, the results were as entertaining as they were informative. And here’s the video to prove it.

We’d like to see videos of your own vanpooling experiences. The format is up to you. Interviews with your fellow riders? Great! Cinema verite, complete with long shots of raindrops on the windshield? C’est magnifique!

The only limits are on your imagination. (And, naturally, good taste and blog-friendly content!)

Just post your video to Youtube and then send an e-mail to chris(dot)hooper(at)vpsiinc(dot)com. We’ll review the content and post it.

Thanks in advance. Stay tuned for more information. Meanwhile, we’re excited to see your videos and share them with others on the blog!

Vanpooling in the News

June 7th, 2011 0 Comments

Here’s an interesting article from the Houston Chronicle about what commuting might look like in the future. Not surprisingly, vanpooling is part of the vision:

Are 60 MPG cars and Houston-style van pools in America’s future?

A group of House Democrats say they have several proposals to improve transportation in American communities by increasing automobile fuel efficiency standards and making incentives — such as Houston-style van-pooling — for citizens to curb driving.

The group, a task force chaired by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., released a report called “Freedom from Oil,” which recommends boosting the fuel efficiency standard for automobiles to 60 miles per gallon by 2025. Current law requires that American-made cars have an average fuel efficiency of 39 miles per gallon in 2016.

Read the rest of the story at Chron.com.