Share the commute with vanpools!
Cascades East Transit provides a vanpool option to qualifying commuters in Central Oregon. The cost for this service supported by CET and riders may be eligible for more savings through their employer.
Ride in modern vehicles capable of handling the weather provided by Commute with Enterprise. Get help from Commute Options in organizing your vanpool team at work. We make it easy to share your commute!
Whether your commute is across town or across Central Oregon, vanpools can be an option for you!
What is a vanpool?
A vanpool is just like a carpool, but we provide the ride. Your team still does the driving. Schedules fit your commute and options are available if you need to go home early (or late). Teams can be as small as 4 people or up to 13 commuters.
The vehicle, insurance, roadside assistance, and carpool matching is all provided to the vanpool group through this service.
How does it work?
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Does your workplace* have four or more people who can share a commute?
We can help match the right people! -
Will your commute originate in Central Oregon?
That includes Deschutes, Crook, or Jefferson County and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs - If you said yes to both, then apply today!
Not sure if your team’s schedules will match up? We can help! The Commute Options team can provide smart scheduling support to make organizing your vanpool group as easy as possible.
* While it is often easier to organize a vanpool among coworkers, you can share the ride with neighbors or folks who work nearby too. Vanpools are fully open to the public. So, if you work at the library downtown while your neighbor works at the bank, you can still ride together!
Up to half of your expenses are included if your commute originates in Central Oregon
So long as your commute either starts or ends inside Central Oregon, your vanpool commute can receive up to a 50% subsidy from CET. This is made possible thanks to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF).
Contact us below for more details about your specific commute.
FAQs
Each individual in a vanpool group can get two guaranteed rides home through taxi, ride share, or rental car as a Commute with Enterprise vanpool participant.
Leases on a vanpool vehicle are month to month and can be canceled any time with 30 days notice. Individuals can enter or leave a vanpool at any time, so long as the group keeps more than 4 members.
Each vanpool group should have at least two designated drivers who can take turns driving – or be available if another driver is absent.
No, if you need to drive separately every once in a while that’s fine! But if you consistently can’t make it, it might be better to give your spot to someone else who will use it more regularly!
Gas is charged to a card provided by Commute with Enterprise and is included on the invoice at the end of the month. Gas costs may be eligible for savings through your employer.
CET’s vanpool service is open to the public, but there are some general requirements. These focus on the type of commute, the frequency of the commute, and number of regular commuters, rather than the participating organization.
So, short answer: no, this does not have to be connected to an employer.
For example, a vanpool might work for a group of students traveling from Redmond to OSU Cascades in Bend. Or neighbors in La Pine who each work at different stores in the Cascade Village Shopping Center.
Get in touch to see if this might work for you!
Ready to sign up or learn more?
Your information below will only be used to contact you about vanpool services.