Vanpooling is more flexible than fixed route transit and can gather and deliver employees to areas that have limited or no bus service.

Vanpooling is a travel mode that brings five to fifteen commuters together in one vehicle.

One vanpool can take as many as 14 vehicles off the road during peak commute hours, which improves the ability for many Washington businesses to move their products on increasingly congested roadways. A recent market study conducted by WSDOT found that vanpools eliminate more than 11,000 vehicles from the roadways each day in the Puget Sound region.

The Puget Sound region leads the nation in vanpooling with over 2,000  “public” vanpools.

The Puget Sound’s six transit agencies –
Community Transit, Island Transit, King County Metro, Kitsap Transit, Intercity Transit, and Pierce Transit– comprise the oldest and largest public vanpool network in North America. The Seattle King County Commuter Pool was the first publicly financed vanpool service in the United States, organized in 1979.

Vanpools are currently provided by the above six agencies plus Asotin County Transit, Ben Franklin Transit, Clallam Transit System, Columbia County Public Transportation, Grant Transit, Grays Harbor Transportation Authority, Jefferson Transit Authority, Link Transit, Mason County Transportation Authority, Skagit Transit, Spokane Transit Authority, Whatcom Transportation Authority, Yakima Transit, and soon, Valley Transit.

Employers have found vanpooling is a popular commute option for employees who are located at worksites with limited or no bus service. Over time, the local agencies providing vanpool services developed administrative rules and procedures unique to their individual vanpool program. As a result, employers became interested in working with vanpool providers in order to reduce the confusion and barriers caused by these administrative differences.  For more information on how your employer works with any of the local agencies above, contact your Employee Transportation Coordinator or Human Resources Department.