Vanpooling and Transit Agencies
Module 1: What is Vanpooling?
Welcome to this on-line course to explore how to integrate vanpooling into transit agency services. This
course and the accompanying resources address these topics:
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First, What is vanpooling?
Second, What are some models of how vanpools have been integrated into existing transit
services?
Third, What are the benefits of incorporating vanpools into a transit agency’s services?
And finally, what are the the basic steps to implementing a vanpool program in a transit agency?
Agencies wishing to learn more about implementing vanpools or seeking guidance, are welcome to
contact the Community Transportation Association of America at the email provided on the training
website.
Let’s begin by defining vanpooling. At its most basic level, vanpooling is a form of ridesharing—like
public transit, where people ride together on a bus—or like carpooling. Vanpooling is a form of public
transportation. It is a service available to the general public and is often funded with public
transportation dollars. Vanpooling is one mode of transportation in a whole collection of transportation
options that can complement each other and that, together, can increase mobility for community
members.
What do vanpools look like? Vanpools are a group of commuters who travel together in mini-vans or
full-size vans between their homes and a common work destination. The Federal Transit
Administration’s definition of a vanpool says that a vanpool is “any vehicle seating at least 6 adults (not
including the driver) with at least 80 percent of its mileage being used for transporting commuters
between their residences and their place of employment.”1
As a general rule, vanpools are smaller than buses. Vanpools, as we just saw by definition, seat at least 6
people, not including the driver. The most common vans in use are the 12- and 15-passenger vans, and
7-passenger mini-vans are also popular. By contrast, buses can seat anywhere from 12 passengers (and
fewer when passengers with wheelchairs are on board) to 60 passengers.
Vanpools, again by FTA definition, travel between home and work destinations. This journey is usually
made directly from an area near the riders’ homes, perhaps at a local gathering spot, to one or more
1
Title 49, U.S. Code, Section 5323[i]. www.fta.dot.gov/documents/chap53MAP21.pdf
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work sites located close to each other. The vanpool generally does not stop anywhere in between these
two end points. In contrast, buses traveling on fixed routes often have multiple stops, although express
commuter buses may have far fewer stops.
Vanpools serve commuters, which for the most part means travel during peak morning and afternoon
times. But vanpools can be equally effective for those working second or third shifts, especially when
other public transportation options may be scarce.
Buses most often operate along fixed routes from which they cannot deviate, unless such deviation has
been designed into the route. By contrast, vanpool routes are determined by the passengers. They begin
at or near the driver’s home, where the van is usually parked overnight. The route the van takes to the
passengers’ work destinations is flexible, and can be altered based on the passengers’ preferences,
changing traffic conditions, or even for special purposes, such as if the vanpool riders, as a group, decide
to make a stop on the way home.
Just like the routing, the schedule for a vanpool is flexible and based on the riders’ preferences.
Perhaps the largest difference from buses is that the drivers of vanpools are volunteers, and not an
employee of a transit company. They are making the same commute to work as the other passengers in
the van. They park the van at or near their home, drive it to their workplace, and then drive it home (or
to a designated parking spot) at the end of the day.
Most, if not all, of the costs for a vanpool are borne by the riders themselves. They split the cost of
insurance, fuel, maintenance, and parking equally among themselves. Drivers of vanpools often don’t
pay a share of these costs, as their large responsibility as a driver is considered to be their contribution.
2