The Basics of Carpooling
A few options:
- One person can drive all the time while passengers contribute to the cost (e.g. money for fuel and parking)
- Participants may alternate driving in each other's vehicles and not exchange money.
- Driver can pick up passengers at their homes or a pre-determined convenient location.
Finding a Carpool Buddy
How can you start a new carpool or add another person to your existing carpool? Use the Pima Association of Governments (PAG) Sun Rideshare Travel Database to register and to find a carpool buddy or two. You can also list information and search for potential carpool buddies in the Commuter Classifieds.
If you'd like to host a Carpool Party at your workspace, contact HealthyAir@pima.gov to set up an event.
Vanpooling Can Save You $2,000 - $5,000 Per Year!
If you live 15 or more miles away from work, vanpooling can save you up to $5,000 a year! Most of us never consider the true cost of commuting to work, especially if we use our own car. AAA, the leading authority on all things automotive, calculated the “average” car costs over 60 cents a mile to operate in 2013. The cost per mile in a vanpool can be less than 10 cents, saving vanpoolers thousands of dollars each year.
The Pima Association of Governments Sun Rideshare program offers vanpool services administered through Enterprise Rideshare, a worldwide leader in vanpool operations. Enterprise Rideshare provides vehicles to accommodate anywhere between 5 and 15 riders. There is a monthly fee, but if you are traveling more than 15 miles one way, it might be worth it. In addition, PAG subsidizes vanpools with at least six riders, reducing your expenses even more.
The Basics of Vanpooling:
- Gather a group of at least five people to start the vanpool or ask Sun Rideshare to assist in recruiting riders for a new vanpool.
- All participants should live and work near each other and have similar work hours.
- The vanpool riders determine the exact route to work, the pick-up times, and the drop-off locations.
- One primary driver and at least one alternate driver are required (in some vanpools, everyone takes turns driving).
- Primary drivers will go through a driving record and credit record check.
- The monthly van lease cost is divided among the riders.
- The monthly lease cost includes insurance, maintenance, vehicle repair, 24-hour roadside assistance, taxes and registration, and customer service.
Drive Safe
Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists can be hard for drivers to see sometimes. Always be on guard, anticipate surprises, and be careful as you drive. One split-second can make the difference between life and death or injury.
Every year in Pima County, about 250 pedestrians are injured, and about 20 are killed. Learn more about
bicycle and pedestrian safety to avoid being one of the victims.
Share Your Story
If you carpool or vanpool, let us know how you experience any benefits or challenges to this mode of transportation. Submit your brief description to Karen.Wilhelmsen@pima.gov for posting on this webpage.