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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, October 15, 2001

Hawai'i's Environment
Vanpool cuts cars on roads

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Columnist

Kaua'i resident Connie Clausen is looking for fellow commuters willing to pitch in to "vanpool."

If she can find two or three more riders, they'll join a growing statewide program aimed at getting some of the traffic off our roads.

Vanpool Hawai'i is a private company with federal and state money that's been working at the effort for the past eight years. The company has about 160 vans statewide — 22 of them on the Neighbor Islands and the rest on O'ahu — that carry from four to nine commuters to work each day.

Here's the deal: Vanpool Hawai'i, with money from the Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation, buys the van. Riders pay a monthly fee to cover part of the maintenance, insurance and registration costs, plus the cost of gas and parking. The monthly fee can range from $50 to $100.

The driver of the van gets to use it for personal, noncommercial purposes on weekends and holidays.

"What we're trying to do is to get single-occupancy vehicles off the road," said Vicki Harris, executive director of Vanpool Hawai'i.

The vans tend to be seven- or nine-passenger models. Drivers must be 25 or older, with at least five years of driving and a clean traffic record.

One of the state's longest commutes involves vans that carry hotel workers a couple of hours each way from Hilo on the Big Island's windward side to the resort district around Waikoloa. There, Vanpool Hawai'i uses heavy-duty vans to handle the hilly conditions.

In some cases, such as at Kilauea Agronomics on Kaua'i, businesses participate, covering their employees' van pooling costs.

"It can be very flexible," Harris said.

Riders can be from the same community, or can live along an existing commute route. Similarly, they can be going to the same place, or somewhere along the way. Vanpool Hawai'i just doesn't want the vans to have to backtrack during the commute, she said.

Clausen said one of her riders wants to commute in her own car from Kekaha to Kalaheo to meet the van, then van pool to her job in Kapa'a.

"She is excited about having a partial break from the long drive each day," Clausen said.

The state pays Vanpool Hawai'i based on the number of vans in service. The contract is now about $2 million annually, with $200,00 from the state Highway Fund, $800,000 from the Federal Highway Administration and $1 million from the Federal Transit Administration.

Visit Vanpool's Web site. For more information or to find areas where van seats are available, on O'ahu call 596-8267, or on the Neighbor Islands call 800-VAN-RIDE.

If you're on Kaua'i and interested in sharing the commute from Kalaheo to Lihu'e or Kapa'a each day, call Clausen at 822-7449.

Jan TenBruggencate is The Advertiser's Kaua'i Bureau chief and its science and environment writer. Call him at (808) 245-3074 or e-mail jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.