| Ridesharing on the rise
Gasoline prices make pooling more popular
By Judy Rife
Times Herald-Record
[email protected]
Middletown-Allan Brinckerhoff has been ridesharing for 11 years
for one simple reason: it saves him money.
"It didn't matter what the price of gas was,'' Brinckerhoff
said. "When I added the cost of oil changes, tires, wear and
tear and tolls, it was always cheaper than driving alone."
Brinckerhoff's ridesharing testimonial is the kind of thing MetroPool
likes to dangle before commuters in those single-occupant vehicles
when prices soar at the pump.
What's different this time is that MetroPool is having no problem
reeling in those commuters.
Inquiries to 1-800-FIND RIDE in April-May-June increased 26 percent
over the first quarter of the year. And www.metropool.com is getting
5,000 more hits a month than last year.
"Whenever there's been an increase in gas prices in the past,
we haven't really seen any great increase in interest," said
John Lyons, president and CEO of MetroPool, the Stamford-based commuter
services company.
"It's different this time. People kind of freaked when gas
hit $2 but now that it's approaching $3, I think some other things
are finally kicking in , congestion, quality of life, stress."
The company, which administers a variety of ridesharing programs
for the New York and Connecticut departments of transportation,
is best-known for the ridematching service that places commuters
into customized carpools , there are more than 4,000 of them in
the Hudson Valley.
Brinckerhoff uses a new and improved MetroPool program, called the
Easy Street vanpool. Over the past two years, this demonstration
program has put 68 vans, carrying seven to 15 people each, on the
road in the Tappan Zee corridor.
New vanpools are forming regularly, and some existing ones have
waiting lists. The New York DOT is expected to expand the program
in the coming year.
Each day Brinckerhoff shuttles 14 of his Orange & Rockland Utilities
co-workers who live around Middletown to their office in Spring
Valley.
The Middletown O&R office allows the workers to use its parking
lot as a meeting point and somewhere safe to leave their cars.
Volunteering to act as the vanpool's driver-manager was a no-brainer
for Brinckerhoff ,he rides free. His passengers pay $125 a month
for the 84-mile round trip. Brinckerhoff estimates they would be
shelling out at least $240 a month in cars that average 20 miles-a-gallon
for gas and tolls.
"That kind of savings is why I was attracted to ridesharing
in the first place and why I've stayed with it,'' he said. "Don't
get me wrong. You need to adjust your lifestyle to do this. Like
accept that you will do your errands on weekends."
People routinely tell Brinckerhoff that they don't join carpools
or vanpools because they want the freedom of stopping here and there
on their way to and from work, or running errands on their lunch
hour, or going home in an emergency.
"But you know, just because you have a seat on the van doesn't
mean you have to use it every day,'' Brinckerhoff said. "You
can take your car now and then and still come out ahead."
Traffic alert: Tappan Zee Bridge
Ongoing bridge repairs will result in lane closures this week. The
right northbound lane will be closed from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Today and tomorrow. The right southbound lane will be closed from
9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Wednesday.
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