Program gives gas cards, goodies to those who carpool

The cost of gasoline pushed Don Ciesielski into sharing a ride to work at the Naval Safety Center in a bulky, 15-passenger van. It was tough to give up the freedom of his car, especially at lunchtime, he said.

When he learned he could win free gift cards while he cruised down the interstate with his work buddies, he began to think the daily slog to work wasn't so bad.

"If you had told me a year ago how much fun I would have going to work, I would have said you're out of your cotton-pickin' mind," said Ciesielski, the center's financial manager.

"We just have a ball going to work, if you can believe it."

Such endorsements are exactly what Hampton Roads Transit has hoped would emerge from its year-old partnership with NuRide Inc., an incentive-based ride-sharing company that is trying to pry solo drivers out from behind the wheel.

To do it, the Essex, Conn., company rewards people with restaurant gift cards, discounts from retailers or chances to win more valuable prizes for sharing a ride to work or around town instead of driving alone. "I've earned a lot of the gift cards they have - Shell gasoline, T G I Friday's cards, Old Navy and two from Circuit City," said Ciesielski, who lives in Chesapeake. "It's a great deal."

A typical gift card for a restaurant may be worth $10 while a retailer may offer a coupon worth 20 percent off. It's at the retailer's discretion.

Ciesielski happens to van-pool to work, but the offer applies to car-addicted commuters and people running everyday errands.

Single occupancy vehicles are the source of the region's biggest traffic headaches - the daily congestion at the tunnels and bridges - and a leading source of greenhouse-gas emissions.

The Federal Highway Administration estimates that 91 percent of all trips are taken in personal vehicles and that 79 percent of vehicles are occupied by one person. Most people in Hampton Roads commute alone, regional studies have shown.

Planners have long known that if commuters would share more rides, the local rush-hour congestion would ease, b ut mov ing people out of their cars has been a tough sell.

NuRide does it with prizes.

"We offer incentives to give people a chance to change their driving behavior," said Lisa Sattler-Biesak, a company spokeswoman.

The privately held company says it makes money through fees from corporate sponsorships and with contributions from government agencies that encourage car pooling.

The system works like this:

Commuters register at www.nuride.com by answering a basic set of questions, such as where they live and work, their e-mail address, their smoking preference, their age range, and information about the commute.

Once NuRide confirms where an applicant works or goes to school, he or she can begin to schedule trips and manage a personal online account that will track earned points. Participants plan a trip by telling NuRide's Web site where they work; the time they need to start; and whether they will drive, share a ride or either. They also specify when they'll go home.

Other NuRide customers can log on and see who lives nearby and is willing to share a ride. NuRide does not coordinate trips. Instead, it helps people find one another, and often it will find more than one possibility.

To help commuters decide, NuRide also calculates what percentage of one person's route is the same as a potential match's. People can contact one another through the Web site, but NuRide does not pass out e-mail addresses, Sattler-Biesak said.

After a trip, each rider confirms online what occurred, and points are awarded. Points accumulate over time.

"We refer to ourselves as an online ride-sharing community," Sattler-Biesak said. "We avoid the term 'car pooling,' which we think of as one that implies a commitment that someone may not want to make.

"With NuRide, you can take one ride every week, or one every year, or whenever you want."

The company's Web site tallies how much pollution was avoided because a car was left at home.

From January 2006 to December 2007, for example, NuRide reported 565 members in Hampton Roads.

As a group, the region's travelers have logged 8,542 trips, equal to a reduction of 252,756 miles not traveled in vehicles occupied by a single person, Sattler-Biesak said.

The local travelers have saved 128 tons in air-polluting emissions, she said.

The typical NuRide user is 38 years old and more likely to be a man, she said. More than half of the users had never shared a ride before.

Seventy-one percent are college graduates, 79 percent are married and 53 percent have children at home. Participants use the service an average of about 3.5 days a week.

NuRide has been in business since 2004 and operates in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut metroplex, Hampton Roads, Houston and Minneapolis/St. Paul. NuRide claims 23,443 members nationwide.

James Long, director of parking services at Old Dominion University, joined NuRide 18 months ago and shares an occasional ride with a student who lives nearby. About 115 people at ODU participate, he said.

"It's hard to get people out of their cars," Long said. "I know it was hard for me. There had to be an incentive, and for me gasoline approaching $3.50 a gallon is an incentive."

Long, a Hampton resident, has not used the service enough to qualify for prizes.

"If I can get 100 people who drive in their cars alone every day to ride with someone else, then that's a big thing," he said.

James Toscano, HRT's vice president for public affairs, said NuRide is promoted under the Traffix program, which encourages ride sharing among commuters.

Traffix has a three-year $300,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation to promote NuRide, but the rewards are provided by the 90 corporate sponsors.

Tom Holden, (757) 446-2331, Tom.Holden@pilotonline.com