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SEMCOG’s car-pooling program grows amid rising gasoline prices By Jeremy Carroll For Troy resident Michelle Spisak, joining in a van-pooling effort to get to work and home is great for saving money on gas, but the ride sharing has other perks as well. “Well, No. 1, I don’t have to drive,” she said with a laugh. “And I don’t have wait for the car to heat up in the winter or cool off in the summer.” Spisak is among the growing number of commuters in metro Detroit to sign up for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments’ RideShare program. In the last year, the number of people signed up for the program has increased 8 percent, said Sue Stetler, director of communications for SEMCOG. “A good way to make gas $2 a gallon is to share a ride,” she said. The program utilizes software that matches riders up with each other by where they live, where they work, and the time of day they go to work and when they leave. “You put it all in, and it will match you up with people,” Stetler said. “Or, if no one matches, it may not. But the more people that do that process, the more matches we can make.” Spisak joined into a van-pooling effort three years ago with co-workers at the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command facility in Warren. She said there are nearly 50 other van-pooling groups at the facility. “It’s really a wonderful program,” she said. “It’s rare that I don’t take it.” Eleven co-workers car pool in the 10-passenger van, and Spisak said that she participates in the program about 90 percent of the time. All of the passengers chip in for gasoline and add money in for maintenance of the van. The primary driver doesn’t pay for the gasoline. There are several pick-up points for the van, which starts out in the 22 Mile Road and Van Dyke Avenue area before coming down to the facility on Mound Road in Warren. Spisak said the group has figured out rules for the van, and there are certain times when the pick-up happens. “If you are not there when it’s time to go, we don’t wait,” she said. One of the reasons some balk car pooling or van pooling is the fear of being left without a ride, or the need to leave the office quickly in case of an emergency, so SEMCOG designed an addition to the RideShare program called Guaranteed Ride Home, said Stetler. Under the program, commuters get reimbursed for a taxicab or car rental in case of an emergency, if there’s unexpected overtime or the car-pool driver is unexpectedly unable to drive the commuter home. The program may be used up to six times per year and not more than twice in one month. Spisak said she’s used the Guaranteed Ride Home program before, and it has worked well. “They paid promptly,” she said. “It was very user friendly.” She said there’s no reason not to be part of the program. Stetler said 1,432 of the 4,156 people who are signed up for RideShare are part of the Guaranteed Ride Home. The matching service and the Guaranteed Ride Home are free of charge. For more information on the program, visit www.semcog.org or call SEMCOG at (313) 961-4266. You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Carroll at jcarroll@candgnews.com or at (586) 279-1110. |