Vanpooling heading to the South Shore to give employers and staff transportation options

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - In response to transportation needs on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe's South Shore, the South Shore Transportation Management Association (SSTMA) has begun an initiative to start vanpooling.

Douglas County has been contributing to Lake Link, a micro-transit option for transportation at Lake Tahoe, and the commissioners told SSTMA they also wanted commuter transportation for those living in the Carson Valley.

Washoe County offers vanpooling, as does the North Shore. With Tesla and other large employees east of Reno, vanpooling has become a large operation, one of the biggest in the country.

So what is vanpooling? A commuter van (or multiple-seat car) is driven by one of the members of the group and passengers are picked up and dropped off at agreed-upon locations and times. Expenses are shared by the riders, employers, and possibly other funding. The more riders participate, the cost for everyone decreases. It eliminates the need for individual vehicles to take up parking places at work, as well as eliminating excessive vehicle miles traveled. Employees rotate driving the vans to whatever works for the group. A bonus, the driver can keep the van over the weekend and can use it up to a predetermined number of miles.

Enterprise Mobility, the umbrella Enterprise Rental Car operates under, is growing vanpooling in the region, working with employers to provide the vans and organized schedules to get their employees to work through its Commute With Enterprise (CWE) program. They customize schedules for each business to use the turnkey program. No need for employers to buy vehicles or provide drivers. CWE knows that shifts can change, and emergencies can occur, so plans for those instances will be included.

Steve Teshara, the chairperson of the SSTMA board, said there is a lot of interest on the South Shore, including Caesars Entertainment, the Golden Nugget, Vail, Edgewood, the City of South Lake Tahoe, housekeeping services, and many restaurants.

CWE is working with six employers across the South Shore area as well as working with local government agencies to find ways to fund vanpooling services for the community.

"We will start small and then gain traction," said Teshara. Caesars Entertainment could have the first vanpool program by this spring.

Teshara agreed to take the program on as there wasn't any employer in the commute business. He's been working with CWE, a "time-tested and reality-tested program."

Employers in the area can find more information on the Commute website or they can reach to Brian Hitchcock with Commute at Brian.Z.Hitchcock@EM.com. In addition, employers in the region can contact the SSTMA who can direct inquires to Commute with Enterprise.

Founded in 1994, Commute with Enterprise has grown into one of the largest and most cost-effective vanpool operations in the U.S. operating approximately 10,000 vanpools across 47 states. These vanpools have reduced the equivalent of an estimated over one billion U.S. commuter miles and reduced an estimated 405,000+ metric tons of CO2e in FY23. Currently, the Nevada and Tahoe Basin Group operates 460 active vanpools with the majority operating in the Washoe county vicinity making this the fourth largest Transportation Agency Partnership in the nation with RTC- Washoe County.