AUGUSTA — Rob Sobczak believes a lot in group commuting that he has his personal 15-passenger van that he has used for his day by day 120-mile roundtrip from South Portland to the University of Maine at Augusta.
While not all Maine drivers are seemingly to make an identical funding, Maine transportation officers are working to promote ride-sharing and lengthen the thought slightly farther.
On Thursday, the Maine Department of Transportation and the Maine Turnpike Authority via GO MAINE , the statewide ridesharing program, introduced they’re renewing efforts to promote greener travel decisions by increasing the program’s scope past day by day commuting to each vehicle trip taken in Maine.
And in doing so, they’re working to obtain the purpose of decreasing vehicle miles traveled outlined in Maine Won’t Wait, the state’s four-year plan for local weather motion.
“This program is pretty visionary in the sense that it’s focusing on all people,” Emily Decker, GO MAINE program supervisor, stated Thursday.
Historically, travel demand packages like ride-share packages have centered solely on work commutes, Decker stated. The conventional route is working with employers on carpooling packages and serving to commuters discover carpool matches amongst co-workers or others touring to and from the identical areas.
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“A lot of people think that carpooling is you commuting with your spouse,” she stated, which is one thing she really does.
Sobczak began his commuting life about three a long time in the past, with the Go Augusta program that promoted vanpooling. At about $150 a month, vanpooling offered a extra reasonably priced possibility that solo driving, and he signed on. That program ultimately advanced into an earlier model of the GO MAINE program, however when that resulted in about 2012, the commuters have been left to fend for themselves.
The telecommunications engineer ran some numbers and determined that he may put his personal 15-passenger van, which was a household vehicle, into vanpooling service for about the identical value, whereas masking the price of upkeep, gasoline, tires and substitute.
Until the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, he ran the van with a mean of 12 riders and a few backup drivers within the group. Since the pandemic, the van has been largely parked in his driveway because the demand has fallen off. But now that state staff are beginning to return to the workplace, he thinks he’ll get the van — a substitute of the unique — again on the highway slightly later this yr.
Sobczak’s expertise mirrors what transportation officers have seen in Maine’s visitors traits. During the COVID-19 pandemic, vehicle miles traveled within the state bottomed out in April 2020 — when companies, businesses and colleges closed down — at slightly below 800 million. Now, simply two years later, the vehicle miles traveled have been at about 1.1 billion in March, simply barely lower than what they have been throughout the identical month in 2019.
Department of Transportation statistics present that just about 10,00o state residents have signed up for the ridesharing program, noting that organizations throughout the state have made GO MAINE part of their tradition.
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With a rewards program for those that incorporate green options — strolling, biking, telecommuting, car- and van-pooling or taking public transportation — of their travel and log them via the program, the Department of Transportation is working to hit some objectives this yr. They embrace greater than doubling the variety of new members within the program, and decreasing each the variety of vehicle miles pushed and journeys taken within the state.
Most program members reside and work in southern Maine and the larger Portland space, however Decker stated her company is working to develop that in different areas of the state.
Currently GO MAINE has 14 members working in Kennebec County who’re recording journeys. Half are commuting or ridesharing and the opposite half are telecommuting or biking.
Since March, GO MAINE has signed on 4 new members who commute to Kennebec County from different elements of the state. The others telecommute.
The different good thing about the ridesharing program is saving state residents cash on gasoline and diesel, however to this point solely 4 members have joined since March, when transportation gasoline costs spiked. Program information present that earlier than the gasoline worth will increase, solely 5 rideshare journeys have been being recorded.
As a part of its growth, GO MAINE is now providing an interactive cell app with a trip planner that may provide up an inventory of green travel options, focused each at day by day commuters and anybody touring within the state.
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“All some people want to do is to Strava (an online tracking service for tracking exercise) and sync their bike trips so they can see what their environmental impact numbers are,” Decker stated.
But for others, the app incorporates data on how to get round for people who find themselves touring to Maine by practice or bus.
GO MAINE can also be now sponsoring two How Green Can You Go competitions a yr, doubling the prospect for members to win prizes and and recognition. One is scheduled for May, different is in October.
Details can be found on the program’s web site, gomaine.org.
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