MTA Steers Drivers Toward Vanpooling

When it comes to enticing Southern Californians to give up their cars, the incentives game is never as simple as dangling a carrot in front of their fiercely independent noses.

With new carpool lanes on the 110, 170 and portions of the 134 freeways, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials are hoping that $100 rebates will lure commuters out of their lone-driver worlds into van pools. Taking inspiration from the movie “Field of Dreams,” spokesman Gary Wosk’s slogan goes something like, “If you offer the rebate, they will come.”

To qualify, commuters must be first-time vanpoolers, travel in a Los Angeles County carpool lane for at least three miles and remain in the program for at least three months. The first 500 who successfully apply will receive the rebate.

If a pilot program launched six years ago on the Antelope Valley’s Route 14 is an indication, the rebates will work. Cash incentives were given to 678 first-time vanpoolers there between 1991-93.

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MTA officials compare vanpooling to falling in love--though not always at first sight. Just like your meddling aunt who is trying to set you up with that nice doctor down the street, MTA manager of transportation Cosette Stark said she wants commuters to “try something new, and give it a chance.”

Once motorists get used to the faster commutes in carpool lanes--and the free time en route to read, nap or gloat as cars with only one person creep alongside--they won’t be able to imagine their life without a vanpool, Stark said.

Apparently, the Antelope Valley vanpoolers were convinced. An MTA follow-up report on the program found that 80% of those who stuck it out for three months were still vanpooling two years later.

Of the new Route 14 vanpoolers, most of them--110--traveled between Palmdale and Burbank.

Unlike commuter buses or shuttles, vanpools operate independently, with groups of about 12 people agreeing to collectively lease a vehicle owned by an agency or use a vehicle owned by one of the participants. Driving and pick-up arrangements are up to those taking part, but most operate by general rules of thumb, Stark said.

Stark said the MTA will screen vanpool applicants, looking for structured arrangements rather than just carpools. A vanpool, as opposed to a carpool, has at least seven members and registers with the Southern California Assn. of Governments Rideshare program.

Those who want to organize a vanpool can call the information line at (800) COMMUTE (select the Rideshare option) or (213) 630-1551 for such information as a list of riders who live nearby and might want to join or for existing vanpools with available spaces.

Vanpools work best when the commute distance is about 20 miles each way and there are no more than three stops and pickup points, Stark said. Drivers can rotate, but she suggests that an alternate driver always be on hand in case the assigned driver can’t make it. The drivers are often rewarded, either with personal use of the van or a lower fee for taking part.

The lease cost for a van is typically about $1,200 a month, not including gas, Stark said. A typical vanpool fare for a 15-mile round-trip commute would be $140 a month, Stark said.

Irvine resident Jim Spear, a project manager for Arco in downtown Los Angeles, has been vanpooling on and off since the mid-’80s. Enduring his 80-mile round-trip commute by himself was “just too exhausting,” he said. “I was in my car for three hours every day.”

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Spear tried carpooling (his three cohorts all retired the same year) and Metrolink (too noisy and schedules clashed with his). But when he signed onto a vanpool, he liked the comfortable ride.

“I read the paper in the morning on my way to work and do paperwork, sign contracts or read business journals on the way home. And I have learned to live without my car,” Spear said, and then politely cut the interview short--to catch his vanpool ride home.

MTA’s Stark recalled one particularly enthusiastic vanpool of UCLA employees. The group decorated the van for different holidays and held “vanpool parties” on members’ birthdays. Vanpoolers would bring food and a little celebration would take place during the morning commute.

“They were just trying to break up the monotony of things. I think the camaraderie that developed encouraged them to stay in the vanpool,” Stark said. “It can be a good way to meet people.”

Maybe even that nice doctor down the street.