By Megan Sayles

Avoiding traffic and taking a break from the daily grind are just two reasons Dan Wray participates in UMD’s carpool program.

A result of the university’s Department of Transportation Services (DOTS) sustainability efforts on campus, the carpool program was created to help participants save money on gas and reduce the amount of emissions coming from campus commuters.

“The carpool program has been around for quite some time, but has been a priority for us as of lately,” DOTS assistant director for marketing and communications Cara Fleck said.  

Since DOTS officially launched the Smart Commute UMD program in 2017, they have logged almost 40,000 rides. 20,000 people registered to join the program by the end of the year.

The progress report also revealed that sustainability efforts were not only made with smart commuting but also in education about sustainability and in the university’s carbon footprint, among other areas.

The university is now the research lead for the University Climate Change Coalition. As many as 63 percent of incoming first-year students received a sustainability lesson in the 2017 to 2018 school year, and according to the latest Campus Sustainability Progress Report, the university’s net carbon emission was reduced by 49 percent between 2005 and 2017.

Andrew Muir, the communications manager for the Department of Environment, Sustainability and Risk, said that most times the only thing constraining people to commute by themselves is that they are unaware carpool programs exist.

The smart commute plans “not only provide faculty and staff with another option, but they also provide incentives for making a change,” Fleck said.

Incentives for joining a carpool include a 50 percent discount on parking permits, the ability to park in any assigned lot to the people within the carpool, free registration in the Guaranteed Ride Home program and retention of your original lot assignment if the carpool disbands.

Wray, the assistant director for facilities, said he has had a good experience with the program. He was lucky enough to be able to drive with a colleague after she moved to his area.

“I think people have hesitations to do rideshares or vanpools when you don’t know other people, but it is an interesting opportunity and certainly a good thing for the environment,” Wray said.

He explained that it’s much easier to navigate with someone in the passenger seat, as they can check map apps in real time to avoid routes with heavy traffic. He’s also enjoyed being able to listen to podcasts and discuss them with his colleague.

“The rideshare and vanpool programs play a very important role in sustainability efforts on campus because they offer faculty and staff the opportunity to proactively lower their individual carbon footprint associated with commuting,” Muir said.

Wray said the hardest part is getting out of your comfort zone but joining the program means more money saved on gas and less wear and tear on your vehicle.

The smart commute programs are not only limited to faculty and staff. Student commuters are encouraged to participate in the program and are an ideal audience for the pools, according to Fleck. People considering joining Smart Commute UMD are urged to look here.