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Sharing Rides in a Carpool or Vanpool

CarpoolTransit route or schedule doesn't work with yours? Live too far away to bike or walk? Consider sharing rides to work and back. Benefits to carpooling and vanpooling include:

  • Substantial annual money savings
  • Less wear and tear on your vehicle – drastically reduces depreciation
  • Additional personal time when you’re not driving
  • Reduced traffic congestion and air pollution
  • Healthier air for our community
  • Guaranteed ride home if driver has an emergency or unscheduled overtime

Carpooling can save you BIG bucks and provides many benefits. You might even be able to help someone out who really needs a ride to get to work.

  • Save up to $600 a year just on parking expenses;
  • Cut your fuel expenses in ½ or more;
  • Reduce wear-and-tear on your vehicle;
  • Make new friends or get to know colleagues;
  • Reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions & traffic congestion;
  • Reduce driving stress, save time, enhance safety.

Carpool Parking Discount

Contact Parking_Garage_Operations@pima.gov or 724-8200 for reduced downtown parking garage expenses if you carpool. You could go from $70 per month to less than $15 per month depending on the number of carpoolers you have.

On-line Tool Eases Your Commute

Learn more about what’s happening along your travel route by visiting www.TransView.org, a traveler information website that provides information on regional traffic incidents, construction updates and weather radar from the National Weather Service. Pima Association of Governments provides the information as a public service using data collected from local department of transportation crews, contractors and local police dispatch systems, and through partnerships with other agencies and public transportation entities.

Video: Do Your Share

Check out PAG's 90-second video about the benefits of ridesharing and how to find a carpool buddy using the Sun Rideshare travel database.

Carpool Karaoke

Check out the winning carpool karaoke videos from the Pima Association of Governments' Rideshare Week, November 14-18, 2016. Our very own Health Department's Brian Eller won first place for his carpool karaoke with his family.

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? Click on 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, motorcyclists, even busses 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. Walk Safe. Drive Safe. is a Pima Association of Governments message providing safety tips for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists, and asks people to join the pedestrian safety movement by taking the online Pedestrian Safety Pledge. It’s a good reminder to watch for pedestrians in or approaching your way.

 

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.