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N.Y. invites everyone into the van pool
03/16/03 - Posted 12:13:46 AM from the Daily Record newsroom
By Bryan Dunleavy, Daily Record
Don't
look now, but van pools are popping up all over the place.
Just last
week, the New York State Department of Transportation mailed out
informational postcards to homes around Morris County trumpeting
a new van pool service that will take New Jersey commuters to jobs
in Rockland, Orange and Westchester counties.
Called
Easy Street NY, the service is a nonprofit program sponsored by
the NYSDOT and administered by MetroPool.
In its
first year, the three-year demonstration project is an effort to
reduce congestion on the Route 287 corridor.
Still
in a somewhat fledgling state, the service has three van pools serving
about 35 commuters in New York, but none in the Garden State.
Hence,
the new promotional campaign.
"We're
trying to make (New Jersey commuters) aware of this service," said
Peggy Hetherington, MetroPool's vice president of marketing.
And here's
the really good news: If MetroPool generates enough interest in
the service from New Jersey commuters, the agency will consider
extending the service into Manhattan.
"If
there was enough groundswell for it, we would consider that," Hetherington
said.
If enough
people organize to form a pool, they would gather at a local park-and-ride
and be shuttled to their New York destination and back.
"Normally,
it's people who either work in the same company or in nearby companies," Hetherington
said.
Hetherington
estimated that a monthly round-trip fare for a Morris County rider
commuting to a destination in Rockland, Orange or Westchester counties
would be $120.
Though
Hetherington couldn't estimate how much the fare would be to Manhattan,
it would be less than $120.
"I
think it's a good idea," said Don Watt, director of operations
for TransOptions, a Hanover-based transportation management association
for northwestern New Jersey.
In this
area, TransOptions has been at the forefront of praising van pools
as a preferred way of commuting.
"There
are a lot of benefits to individuals," Watt said. "There's
less stress, more of an opportunity to do work, cleaner air and
less traffic."
TransOptions
actually manages van pool programs for an NJ Transit service called
Vanpool Subsidy.
This program
allows commuters from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut
to organize van pools for commutes to New Jersey businesses.
The rates
would vary for the distance of the commute, the size of the van
and its luxury appointments.
For more
information on the Vanpool Subsidy, commuters can call TransOptions
at (973) 267-7600.
For more
information on the Easy Street NY program,
call MetroPool at: (800) FIND-RIDE and/or
visit this programs web site: www.easystreetny.com
Bryan Dunleavy can be reached at [email protected] or (973) 428-6200.
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