It’s a well-used cliché that Americans love their cars.
But as gas prices have hit all-time highs, commuters have been finding alternatives to sitting behind the wheel.
And that’s been good news for the van leasing business – not to mention the environment.
NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern reports.
Tony Cataluna of Nashua has to get up at four thirty in the morning to commute to his job at Draper Labs in Cambridge.
He’s been doing this for three years.
But he doesn’t drive his own car like he used to.
He’s one of eight members of a van pool.
From my calculations, I save about 100 dollars a month. That’s just gas. The other savings is also on the wear and tear on my car, and putting on mileage.
Cataluna picks up the group at exit 5 in Nashua at 5:40 am, stops in Chelmsford for another pickup) at 6, and reaches Harvard Square at 6:25.
At that hour, says Cataluna, the van is quiet.
In the morning, they usually sleep (laughs). That’s the most common activity. 5:40 is still really early.
Cataluna leases the vehicle from VPSI, a national van leasing company.
As the vanpool’s coordinator, he gets a free ride.
The rest of the group splits the monthly fees.
Everyone takes turns driving.
VPSI has been around since the late 70s.
But they say they’ve never been this busy.
Melissa Zampitella manages the company’s New England office.
We’ve had the biggest flurry of interest in our history, in the last six months to a year. Every one of our offices is going crazy right now.
Ambi, from inside the van
I’m Troy Smith from Nashua. I work at Novartis in Cambridge.
Smith sprawls out in the back seat of the van on the way home to in Nashua.
The group leaves Draper Labs in Cambridge at 4:30 in the afternoon.
Smith joined the carpool for one reason: to save gas.
In our first year of commuting, we’re reducing our total fuel consumption by about 75 percent. And even though the van does use more gas than one of our standard cars, it’s using significantly less than eight of us driving to work.
But, Smith admits he had to adjust.
Everyone still does want to keep the freedoms of driving themselves. I’ve become more interested in the amount of rest I’m saving. My family has noticed a difference. I’m not as grumpy as I was when I was driving 90 miles a day.
The companies that Smith and Cataluna work for offer cash incentives for carpooling.
And according to Susan Berry, that’s a growing trend in benefits packages businesses offer.
Berry is with the Upper Valley Rideshare Program funded by both New Hampshire and Vermont’s transportation departments.
Some of them are doing a parking space buy-back program. Some pay people to not bring their cars to work. Commuters are in a great position to pick up some new benefits and maybe negotiate some new ones.
One criticism of vanpooling is that it’s not very flexible.
But The Upper Valley Rideshare program offers commuters an emergency ride home if they need it, up to twice a month, or six times a year.
Tony Cataluna, the Nashua vanpool coordinator, explains how that works in his situation.
If any of us has to get home for any emergency, we’re each given a voucher, and we hand the cab driver the voucher and he takes us home, fills the voucher out, and gets reimbursed by the Charles River TMA.
Prices at the pump may have ramped up the number of carpoolers.
But Melissa Zampitella, the van leasing company’s regional manager, says gas prices aren’t the only cause for increased business.
A lot of companies, you know I’ll say, is this because of the gas prices, and it is something they want to help their employees with, as far as their costs. But it’s also the company’s desire to do something to help the environment. There’s a lot of that going on as well.
The New England VPSI office, which traditionally serves Boston commuters, is farming more and more calls north of the border.
So all of a sudden, what used to be mostly coming in to Massachusetts has increased to the other nearby states, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont.
New Hampshire rideshare coordinator Joan Clinton:
Last September we had approximately a thousand people registered in our database. Now, in August of 2008, we have over 1700 people. That’s a significant increase.
Clinton says she’s working with programs in all the neighboring states.
It takes a commitment to do it. It’s a little extra effort. But when people find a good match, it can work out very well.
Road ambi, van doors shutting
Cataluna: Hey, Troy, I’ll see you tomorrow.
Engine starts, van drives off.
For NHPR News in Nashua, this is Sheryl Rich-Kern.
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Before anyone jumps out of their passenger car and into a van, they should do a little online research into van safety. Search for '15 passenger vans' and read the stories of those killed and injured--mixed in with all the advertisements for van sales. There's a reason it's illegal to sell those vans to public schools to transport children. A better piece of investigative journalism might examine why vehicle manufacturers can't (or won't) build safer vans at an affordable price. I for one would choose my personal safety over my wallet (and even over the environment) any day.