Idaho’s RideShare Dollars in High Demand

With gasoline prices at or over $4.00 per gallon, Idahoans are more interested than ever in finding efficient ways to get to work, services and events. Whether they are businesses looking to address parking demands and ensure efficient and timely commutes for those coming to work from the area’s rural reaches, communities seeking increased multi-modal infrastructure by providing bicycle racks to stimulate efficient access to school, or commuters wanting to avoid increased congestion in their daily commute, there is a program that helps meet these unique and changing needs. The RideShare Program assists in special efforts to promote commuting, which conserves energy, improves air quality and reduces congestion.

Recently, the Idaho Transportation Department Division of Public Transportation received requests in excess of $260,000 for this Federal Highway Administration-funded program that in Idaho translates to $60,000.

The RideShare Program features a number of flexible and individualized features particularly conducive to meeting Idahoan’s unique needs.

An interactive website called RideshareOnline.com is a free service provided by the Idaho Transportation Department that introduces commuters to others who might want to carpool or vanpool to work together. RideshareOnline.com maximizes the opportunity to coordinate transportation and leverage existing resources at the most individual level possible.

Users can access this site 24 hours a day to find a carpool partner to share the ride to work and defer the cost of a daily commute. Through this site, user can match their work schedule and other commute needs so that their time spent commuting is not appreciably different than if they were driving themselves.

Public Vanpools are also a feature of the program. When money is available, entities have been able to obtain Rideshare Vans using Rideshare funds and local matches to generate Rideshare Programs within their communities. Vans are typically equipped with air conditioning, tinted windows, reading lights, am/fm radio, and bike racks – making for a relaxing and productive commute environment. Depending on the environment, riders can meet at prearranged locations or in more rural areas, arrange to make stops at residences along the way. Several vanpool services already exist in Idaho.

Increasingly employers, and particularly hospitals, are finding Rideshare a popular alternative to addressing employee transportation needs. By helping to lower commute costs, employee retention increases and demands on parking lots decrease. Some employers choose to provide preferential parking for carpoolers, and they make their vans available for additional employee uses and other community vanpool needs when the van is not in use. The greater their effort to coordinate with others and leverage the public resource, the more meaningful the mobility asset becomes to the local community and the State’s mobility infrastructure.

So, when applications exceed funds available by more than four times the funds available, how does Idaho maximize this limited resource in an environment of dramatically increasing demand?

The obvious answer is to continue to encourage all Idahoan’s who are interested in carpooling to utilize RidershareOnline.com. The web-based service already serves the entire state, and is limited only by the number and amount of participants in any given area. The system is designed to protect one’s confidentiality. A mapping system verifies the applicant’s originating address and shows the approximate location of other commuters on the match list and is specific to the day and time of travel to any destination. Those individuals can be selected that best suit the applicant’s commute route. The database regularly solicits an update; information can be updated at any time.

Another benefit of the web-based program is its ability to help identify interest and demand for a vanpool service in any given area.

Idaho’s existing RideShare Program also supports a subscription to Statewide Rideshare Software and the marketing of the same.

According to Division of Public Transportation Administrator Randy Kyrias, ITD is pleased with the interest in this program and notes that this demand “further emphasizes the need for coordination and the need to leverage community resources to ensure Idahoan’s mobility.” Applications will be assessed by the degree to which they meet customer service, coordination and connectivity objectives as outlined in the state’s strategic vision in Idaho’s Mobility and Access Pathway (IMAP). For more information about IMAP, go to: http://itd.idaho.gov/PublicTransportation/statewide_mobility_plan.htm.
Grants will be issued subsequent to that assessment.

For more information about RideshareOnline.com, contact Kirk Montgomery, ACHD Commuteride, (208) 387-6163 or Kmontgomery@achd.ada.id.us.