There are a growing number of commuters in Maricopa County that are saving money, time and the environment by sharing the ride.
In 2014, sharetheride.com, a ride matching system that allows commuters to quickly and securely find a commute partner in the Valley, reached 30,000 active users.
“It is an indicator of the increased desire to travel more efficiently by sharing the ride,” said Dawn M. Coomer, commute solutions manager, Valley Metro. “It can be fun and make better use of valuable commute time. Participants can also log their commutes, earn points, enter contests and win prizes.”
Commuters are matched based on proximity, destination and travel route, as well as schedules and preferences.
ShareTheRide also matches commuters interested in vanpooling. Valley Metro’s vanpool program is one of the largest in the country, saving riders about 200,000 gallons of fuel a month. In 2014, the program had a total of 400 vans in operation with potential record growth in 2015. Anyone can form a vanpool with 6-15 passengers who then share the cost for fuel, insurance and vehicle maintenance.
Rideshare Month encourages many Valley drivers to share the ride for the first time. In October, those who tracked their commute, using alternative modes, earned points for a chance to win prizes. More than 52,000 commuters took the annual county-wide challenge, in 2014, saving 606,526 pounds of pollution.
According to ShareTheRide, users logged nearly 12 million commute miles, last year, saving about $1.3 million in commute costs and more than 7.2 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
