Valley Metro Vanpooling Provides Vehicle Protection from the Summer Sun
The Arizona sun can take a toll on vehicle paint, tires and air conditioning system. People across the Valley are finding vanpooling is a cost-effective solution to protect their cars from everyday wear and tear, especially in the summer.
“The cost savings are huge for me,” said Terri Scutt a vanpool rider for nearly 12 years. “I was able to get rid of a vehicle and now I have don’t have car insurance or upkeep on a second vehicle.”
Valley Metro has nearly 400 vanpools, saving 4.2 million drive-alone miles each month. One vanpool group began making their commute trips more than 25 years ago. The group travels 60 miles roundtrip each day, saving on stress, money and maintenance on their vehicles. Over the past two and a-half decades, they have saved approximately 4.5 million miles vanpooling, which is equal to 19 roundtrips to the moon.
“You get to know your co-workers outside of the work environment,” said vanpool rider Steve Kloeckl. “Even though members of the vanpool have changed over the years, there have been some very special friendships that were made and many of us still stay in touch.”
Vanpools are available for groups of six to 15. One person volunteers to drive and passengers pay a monthly fare for fuel, maintenance and insurance.
“It’s improved my quality of life,” said Marc Campbell who vanpools with seven co-workers. “I’m calmer now than when I was driving myself. Having the ability to sit back and enjoy the ride puts me in a better mood at work.”
Sharing the ride is easier than ever with ShareTheRide.com. With more than 42,000 active users on the online free ride-matching system, employees across the Valley are connecting with existing vanpool group and starting new ones.
