What is a vanpool?
A vanpool is a group of three to five people with similar commutes — they start at the same time and travel to the same destination — of 15 to 80 miles to and from work who share a comfortable van. They usually live and work in the same areas and work roughly the same hours.
Vanpool members pay a monthly fare, typically $100 to $300, that helps cover the costs of the van, fuel, maintenance and insurance. Driving responsibility is shared and negotiated among the drivers.
Why vanpool?
Put the wear and tear on the van, not your personal vehicle. Vanpooling covers fuel, maintenance, insurance and depreciation. Vanpool groups have access to Park-and-Ride lots and the use of HOV lanes – a huge time-saving benefit. Everyone shares driving. You only have to drive once a week, if at all.
Vanpools meet the university’s Climate Action Plan by helping reduce parking space demand on campus while relieving vehicle congestion and greenhouse gas emissions in Northern Colorado.
Vanpool providers
Two vanpool providers serve Fort Collins, Northern Colorado, and the metro-Denver area communities. Providers typically charge a monthly fare for the opportunity to commute with others to your workplace. Check with them to see if any incentives exist for starting a vanpool from your home community to Colorado State University. An online account will help you find potential vanpools or help you create a new commute option.
VanGo
VanGo is a program of the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization. Located in Fort Collins and Greeley, VanGo provides vanpools connecting communities outside Fort Collins to Colorado State University. An online account will help you find potential vanpools or help you create a new vanpool commute.
Find a vanpool
Or contact VanGo at 970-221-6243 or [email protected]
Way to Go
Way to Go is a program of the Denver Regional Council of Governments. Way to Go is headquartered in Denver and provides connections to Denver, Boulder, and parts of Northern Colorado.
Find a vanpool
Contact 303-458-7665 or [email protected]
What happens if I have an emergency and I do not have my car?
Both vanpool providers have an emergency ride home program in case you need a ride home and you don’t have a car available to you.
Where would I park?
Each vanpool purchases a parking permit and can split the cost among its members.
Vanpool costs
Vanpools typically operate on a monthly fare. Rather than paying separately on a personal vehicle for fuel, maintenance and insurance, as well as the costs of depreciation, vanpoolers pay a monthly fee that covers all those costs by sharing them among other riders in the van. The fare is set by the providers.