Meeting considers ways to save fuel, money

Short-term solutions to weaning America off its "addiction" to fossil fuels lies in the minds of some local Hoosiers choosing to play a small role toward the national goal of energy independence.\nAbout 30 community members congregated May 16 in the Bloomington City Council Chambers of City Hall to discuss van pooling options to help reduce the cost of daily commuting to Indianapolis from Monroe County. Central Indiana Commuter Services, an offshoot of Indianapolis public transit system IndyGo, presented prospective car pooling Hoosiers a slideshow of bullet points offering, among other cost-cutting benefits, the opportunity to match neighbors with other folks headed in the same direction to work each day and one company mini-van or larger passenger vans per "van pooling" team for a minimal fee as part of a six-month plan.\nEllettsville resident Mark Pogue, one of the 1,300 Hoosiers who spend more than two hours of time commuting to and from work each day, said he attended the meeting to form a team of six van pooling like-minded Monroe County Hoosiers.\n"I estimate that I spend about $27 in fuel for my gas guzzler each day driving myself to work. I used to have a job in town but now I work in Indy," Pogue said. "I have been car pooling with an IUPUI student and another person who also works in Indy since January, and we were sharing the cost of gas. But you get more people in a van pool. I'm not the biggest ecologist, but I am for saving money and the ozone."\nThe southern edge of the Interstate 465 loop outside Indianapolis is approximately 47 miles from the city of Bloomington, so a commuter travels 94 miles per work day, 476 miles per work week and 1,904 miles per four-week work month. If a commuter's auto averages 20 miles per gallon, $3 per gallon of unleaded gasoline for 95 gallons of gas to drive back and forth to work in Indianapolis from Bloomington will cost the commuter about $285 each month in gas for the trips to work alone.\nForty-mile round-trip commuters spend an estimated $5,600 per year to get to and from work, not including parking, according to data by the American Automobile Association provided on a CICS pamphlet. \nCICS Project Manager Ruth Reiman, who guided the audience through the PowerPoint presentation and hosted the van pooling group formation after a brief question and answer session, said commuting Hoosiers who travel the B-town to Indy loop spend more that $1,000 each month when all 2,100 commuter miles per month and costs -- including oil changes, engine wear and tear and parking -- are considered. One particular CICS slide indicated van poolers could sell any empty seats to highest-bidding "day riders" and another slide claimed the monthly fare covers free parking to participating van poolers in a secured lot north of town.\nVan pooling options include estimated costs of $179 for a seat and $36 for gas each month as part of a six-month contracted seven-passenger mini-van fare. Larger community van pools are offered 12 to 15 passenger vans for which per person costs for each seat and gas each month are further reduced.\nReiman said more than 4,000 commuters are registered in the company database and any community member willing to save a few dollars each month in commuter costs are welcome to join the site at www.327ride.net. Hoosiers searching for possible car pooling or van pooling candidates can locate other interested persons who live in the vicinity or who work within a shorter drive.\nPogue, with his two car poolers already accounted for, joined three other community members at the meeting interested in a seven person van pool, and each person penned their name on a list of other willing Monroe County to Indy van poolers. He agreed to serve as his van pool's primary driver and Pogue suggested any of the other 1,300 daily commuters driving his familiar route consider car pooling with work peers traveling the same route or with other community members participating in the same daily grind to and from Indianapolis and Bloomington.\n"Car pooling is really kind of a social thing and being on your best behavior with other car poolers kind of makes you a more considerate person," Pogue said. "It gets kind of boring when you drive alone and having someone to talk to helps keep you awake on the road. I just always try to stay away from politics. There is a lot of common ground like family, questions like 'how was work?' and 'what did you do today?', informal and impersonal chit-chat." \nThree potential van poolers were formed after the information meeting out of the possible 30 community members who were in attendance. Whether van pooling with six others or car pooling with friends, less individual commuters equals less cars on the road driven by community members paying less money for decreased daily fuel consumption. \nPogue said he does not see any reason why community members should not feel hopeful about the current national progress toward future fossil fuel independence.\n"I like the fact car pooling saves me a lot of money, and I've noticed an immediate difference -- there are two less cars on the road and that helps reduce the gluttony," he said before leaving the scene in his gas-loving sport utility vehicle. "Gas prices depend on the price of oil, which is about $70 right now, so why not car pool because everybody wins that way. We can control how much gas we choose to use, and we can choose to reduce that amount. We can control now how often we drive."\nFor more information on CICS van pooling options contact 317-327-RIDE.