Is a vanpool in your future? Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) has announced a new commuting option for our community: vanpooling.Is a vanpool in your future? Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) has announced a new commuting option for our community: vanpooling.
On September 9 and 10, come discover whether vanpooling to work or school can work for you! A series of informational sessions about TCAT's Community Vanpool Program will be held on campus.
What is vanpooling? A vanpool is a group of 5 to 14 people who share a ride to or from Tompkins County in a commuter van provided by TCAT that is driven by one of the members of the vanpool group. Vanpool is intended to provide support to those commuters who live in areas 20 or more miles out, where access to public transit may be limited and where the distance traveled to work means higher commuting costs. Because this is a community vanpool program, the members of a vanpool group may all live in or near the same hometown but work for various employers in the Ithaca area: Cornell, Ithaca College, or businesses downtown. But they all can share that same ride to and from work.
A vanpool group self-organizes and negotiates the best "fit" to meet the collective needs of its members: the group sets the schedule for their shared commute, the pick-up and drop-off points, and the route the commute will take. Plus, the TCAT Community Vanpool Program has built-in support systems to allow for alternate ways for its members to get home in the event of emergency, so you won't get "stuck."
Vanpooling saves you money! AAA estimates that the total cost to own and operate a single-occupant vehicle for your commute adds up to more than 50 cents per mile. In contrast, vanpool groups share many of those costs, so you pay far less -- closer to 5 or 10 cents per mile. In addition, Ithaca College is offering support for the vanpool program through several incentives to participate in the vanpool program, including a monthly subsidy to further reduce your commuting costs.
TCAT has contracted with VPSI, Inc., to provide the vehicles and administrative support for this community vanpool program. Jesse Kafka, business development executive for VPSI, Inc., will be on campus to explain the TCAT community vanpooling program and answer all your questions about how vanpooling works and whether this mobility option can work for you.
A series of vanpool information sessions will be offered on campus:
Wednesday, September 9
1:00-2:00 p.m.
Ithaca Falls Room, Campus Center
7:00-8:00 p.m.
Administration Annex room 115
10:30-11:30 p.m.*
Job Hall 161
*This session is offered for the benefit of second- and third-shift workers
Thursday, September 10
10:00-11:00 a.m.
Administration Annex room 115
12:15-1:00 p.m.
Administration Annex room 115
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Ithaca Falls Room, Campus Center
For more information about VPSI and vanpooling, visit: www.vanride.com.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20090828180312259