Available Programs
Commuter Connections is a free ridesharing database to help connect you with local or regional car/van pools. This program helps save you money and promotes clean air quality.
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Never get stranded at work. Whether you or a family member gets sick, or you have to stay at work later than usual, Guaranteed Ride Home (GRH) is a free pro-gram offered by Commuter Connections that will get you home GUARANTEED. Guaranteed Ride Home provides commuters who regularly carpool, vanpool, bike, walk or take transit to work with a FREE and reliable ride home when one of life’s unexpected emergencies arise.
Guaranteed Ride Home
Carpooling - when two or more people commute to work together on a regular basis in a privately owned vehicle - is the simplest and most common ridesharing arrangement. Finding compatible ridesharing partners is easy with Commuter Connections through our website or mobile apps. We help by identifying potential carpool partners that live near your home, that also work near your place of business, who have similar schedules. And some companies even have in-house commuter assistance programs that help employees find carpool partners and offer preferred parking for carpools and vanpools.
Car Sharing is perfect for occasional use and is available daily or by the hour. Car sharing can be used for personal or business needs in lieu of ownership or to augment ownership. Car sharing companies have collectively positioned hundreds of vehicles in neighborhoods within the Washington DC area. Reservation systems available through apps and online help to locate, reserve and access vehicles 24/7, 365 days a year. After becoming a member, simply wave your membership card on the windshield.
CarpoolNow is a live matching system, and is great for last-minute options.
Users please be warned: CarpoolNow may only guarantee you a ride one-way. It will find you someone who is going to the same place as you, but that doesn’t mean that person is returning to the same starting point that you began with, or is returning to the same original starting point at the same time you would need to return. However, details like this can be discussed over the app before pick up.
Get the Mobile App for iOS or Android devices
If you use the app during primetime commute hours in the morning to travel to work, there is a good chance that a person you match with, and ride with, will be returning back to your same original starting place later in the day, and at roughly the same time you would be leaving. If you know you will be needing a ride back to your original starting place, and do not have a back-up plan, please be aware that this option does not provide a secure assurance that you will be able to ride back with the same person. For your return trip, you may simply put in a new request for a ride back to your starting point, and match with someone new, but, again, there is not a guarantee that you will find a ride or rider for your return home.
Vanpooling is a popular and economical option for commuters traveling within the Washington Metropolitan region, particularly for long-distance commuting. Pool Rewards is a special program available through Commuter Connections designed to encourage current drive alone commuters to start or join a vanpool. Pool Rewards offers up to a $200 monthly subsidy to newly formed van or car pools.
For more information visit CommuterConnections.org
Types of Vanpools
Owner-Operated Vans - An individual leases or purchases a van and operates the van independently. Riders generally meet at a central location and pay the owner a set monthly fee.
Third-Party Vans - A vanpool "vendor" leases the vanpool vehicle for a monthly fee that includes the vehicle operating cost, insurance, and maintenance. The vendor can contract directly with 1 or more employees. The monthly lease fee is paid by the group of users. Military personnel may also benefit from this vanpooling arrangement.
Employer-Provided Vans - The employer (or a group of employers) buys or leases vans for employees’ commute use. The employer organizes the vanpool riders and insures and maintains the vehicles. The employer may charge a fee to ride in the van or subsidize the service. Check with your company’s Human Resources Department."
Vanpool Eligibility
2. Are newly-forming vanpools. Newly-forming vanpools are defined as vanpools that have not previously been in operation within 30 days prior to the submission of the Pool Rewards for Vanpools application.
3. Are registered with Commuter Connections
5. Submit an application for the program through one of the qualified vanpool providers: VPSI Inc. or Enterprise Rideshare.
Finding Riders
Don't see your vanpool here? Tell us about it at transportation@aacounty.org so that other vanpoolers can add their rides on. Furthermore, if you are not already in a vanpool, and you do not see one on your route listed here, please go to CommuterConnections.org to be matched with others to start a vanpool or carpool.