MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Morning commuters arrive at the Virginia Tech facilities parking lot in Blacksburg.

MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

From left: Tim Meadows, Harry Via, Johnny Fitts and Dennis Newhouse are among the members of a van pool carrying Virginia Tech employees from West Virginia to Blacksburg every day.

MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Johnny Fitts (left) closes the door of a commuter van and prepares to leave from Rich Creek on the way to Virginia Tech. For about three years, this van pool has traveled along U.S. 460 twice a day, five days a week, transporting Tech employees who live small communities just across the Virginia state line.

| Tonia Moxley

tonia.moxley@roanoke.com, 381-1675

RICH CREEK -- It's 6:50 a.m. and mist is still rising from the fields along the Virginia-West Virginia border when the guys pull into the United Hydraulics parking lot.

About a half dozen of them come, mostly in pickup trucks, carrying lunch coolers and wearing work boots and Virginia Tech Facilities Department shirts. They hail from small communities just across the state line, such as Oakvale, Lindside, Bozoo.

They greet one another, then fold themselves into a blue Dodge minivan to make the 35-mile trip to the Blacksburg campus together.

One of those guys, maintenance supervisor Tim Meadows, will take the wheel. Despite the beautiful scenery, the others will likely nap.

For about three years, the West Virginia van pool has traveled along U.S. 460 twice a day, five days a week. Meadows used to drive that route alone, or as part of a small car pool. In that time, he said he constantly racked up miles on his car and paid high fuel bills.

But two years ago, the guys formed a van pool under Tech's alternative transportation program. Since then, "I went from driving my own car 86 miles a day, to 20," Meadows said.

The van pool is designed for full-time employees who live more than 10 miles from campus, said Debby Freed, Tech's alternative transportation manager.

Under the program, the university provides a minivan from its fleet and allows the groups to fuel up on campus. In exchange, each rider pays up to $75 a month to cover expenses, including wear and tear on the vehicle.

Currently, three main groups use the system. In addition to the West Virginia van, workers who live in Wythe and Pulaski counties use a van, as does a group from Roanoke County and surrounding areas.

The savings can add up quickly.

According to AAA's 2009 "How Much Does it Cost to Drive" report, a 66-mile commute done 50 weeks a year in a one-occupant vehicle adds up to approximately $8,900. Added to that is the $220 that faculty and staff must pay for an annual parking permit.

Meanwhile, at $75 a month, Tech's van pool costs each rider about $900 a year.

As an extra incentive, each van pool gets a limited number of free daily parking passes for use when riders' work schedules fluctuate and they must use their personal vehicles.

Another perk: The vans have assigned parking spaces, allowing the group to avoid the hassle of cruising Tech's many lots for scarce open spaces.

But saving money and time are not the only benefits, said Fran DeBellis, director of Virginia Tech Electric Service and the primary driver for the Wythe/Pulaski van pool.

Driving back roads to pick up riders near their homes reduces the stress DeBellis said used to feel battling through the ever-more-congested Interstate 81 twice a day.

Van-pooling also encourages relationships among the commuters.

"You get to see more things and talk to people," DeBellis said. "It's a good deal, and it's green. Instead of seven vehicles going down the road, you have one."

DeBellis carpools with a neighbor from Wythe County to the van pool pickup location in Pulaski County, where they arrive by 7:10 a.m. Then they begin their morning route, collecting up to five other employees from around Pulaski County who work in divisions across the university, DeBellis said.

From 1998 to 2007, DeBellis drove alone in his own car, or carpooled with his neighbor a total of about 90 miles a day. Now he drives his own car an average of 12 miles a day.

"You can't believe the wear and tear it saves you," DeBellis said.

Freed, Tech's alternative transportation director, said she would love to see van pool groups form in Floyd and Giles counties, but so far too few employees have shown interest.

Van-pooling is not the only option, however.

"There are a lot of alternatives to bringing your own car to campus," Freed said.

Tech's Bike, Bus & Walk program serves those who live closer to the university. For $15 a year, participants get 15 free parking passes to use for inclement weather, so long as the rest of the time they car pool, bike, walk or ride Blacksburg Transit or SmartWay buses.

The fee was only recently implemented and will be used to buy new bike racks and expand alternative commuting infrastructure, Freed said.

Tech's alternative transportation program began about a decade ago, when university transportation director Steve Mouras was looking for ways to cut the high cost of building traditional parking lots.

At $3,400 per space for asphalt lots and $19,000 per space for garages, parking infrastructure can quickly drain a university's financial resources, Mouras said.

Then, at a conference, Mouras heard about a program developing at the University of Wisconsin at Madison that used incentives to get people out of their cars and into new commuting routines. He hired Freed, who was then working in parking services, to build an alternative transportation system at Tech.

Today that system includes van-pooling and car-pooling, ride sharing, on-campus car sharing, as well as a network of biking and walking trails. Many of these options are also available to students, Freed said.

The program began before worries over greenhouse gases and climate change mushroomed into everyday topics, but today is a major part of the university's sustainability initiative.

In June, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors approved a Climate Action Commitment Resolution that commits the university to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below its 1990 emissions level by 2050.

To accomplish that, officials are focusing on two main areas, sustainability program manager Denny Cochrane said. "Get your electricity down, and your transportation. Transportation is a key part."

So far, Tech is making significant progress. About 55 percent of full-time employees purchase a vehicle parking permit, Cochrane said.

That means about 45 percent are using some sort of alternative transportation, whether that's carpooling with a spouse or co-worker, or riding a bike to campus.

In December, Tech placed third overall for sustainability progress and second for alternative transportation among more than 20 participating state agencies in then-Gov. Tim Kaine's "Green Campus Challenge."

For more information on transportation alternatives at Tech, visit www.facilities.vt.edu/tcs/alternative or call 231-0248.