New vanpool option aims to cut commuting costs, ease congestion
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4:50 p.m., Oct. 27, 2008----The University of Delaware has partnered withVPSI Inc., the nation's largest vanpool services provider, to bring a vanpool commuter program to the Newark campus this fall.

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Vanpools consist of a group of five to nine people who agree to commute to work together on a regular basis in a van provided by VPSI, with a designated driver and alternate driver. Vanpools are a sustainable way to reduce frustration and traffic congestion while also cutting commuting costs.

VPSI has launched programs on other college campuses nationwide, including the University of Pittsburgh, the University of California at Irvine and the University of Michigan.

Areas where large numbers of UD employees live--such as Middletown, Wilmington, Dover and Philadelphia-- have been targeted and commuters from those areas will be invited to attend informational meetings in the coming weeks. The meetings will allow interested UD employees to meet fellow commuters, learn more about vanpooling and to form vanpooling groups.

The first meeting will be for interested employees who commute from Middletown and will be held from 12:30-1:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 30, in the Ewing Room of the Perkins Student Center.

According to the American Automobile Association, the average commute from Middletown costs $580 per month for a 25-mpg vehicle with gas at $3.25 per gallon. A five-person vanpool would cut that cost to $269 a month--for savings of $311 a month and $2,832 a year. Persons from Middletown who vanpool three times a week and travel alone the other two days could save $59 per month.

Drivers of the vans for vanpools have added incentives. They will have their parking and vanpool costs subsidized by UD.

According to Anna Bloch, UD payroll and systems administrator, vanpool participants have the option of federal pre-tax commuter benefit each month up to a maximum of $115 ($120 in 2009).

Overall, VPSI estimates that vanpooling through VPSI can eliminate 14 million vehicle-commuting trips in the nation, conserve 26 million gallons of fuel and keep 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere in 2008.

For more information, contact Adam Milavsky, program director in the Office of the Executive Vice President, at (302) 831-2200 or call Jesse Kafka, VPSI business development executive, at (800) VAN-RIDE.

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