(Host) As gasoline prices skyrocket, Vermont’s Transportation Agency plans to revamp its system of helping people organize carpools to get to work.
The state also plans to establish a similar service where people can share rides in vans if there’s enough interest.
Chuck Gallagher is the public transit administrator for the Transportation Agency. He says a new Web site will be established this fall where people can look into sharing rides or taking a bus.
(Gallagher) “And that’s going to be one-stop shopping on this new Web page. We currently have a Web page that you can access. … It’ll connect you with a ride-share system right now that you can use today. But we’re going to upgrade that and make it much more user friendly and also link all of the alternative forms of transportation to it.”
(Host) Vermont offers 12 bus routes around the state for commuters to get back and forth to work.
Ridership has risen on each of them – and at least half of them are at capacity.
Gallagher says the Legislature put another $350,000 into the budget to expand routes or to establish ones.
(Gallagher) "It’s ironic that right now we’re at a period of time where the gas prices are driving demand because people want to get out of their cars and onto the bus. But at the same time, that’s the biggest challenge we face in terms of keeping the buses running. We’ve got to buy the diesel fuel to put in those buses to keep them going.”
(Host) The Transportation Agency got some extra money to operate the buses this year. But it plans to look for new ways over the next year to pay for the public transportation division’s operating budget.