Don't be an S.O.V. (Single Occupant Vehicle)

While there was much debate over the recent transportation referendum that was defeated two weeks ago, most metro Atlantans can agree that the region suffers from a serious traffic congestion problem.

A recent analysis of data from 371 transit providers in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas revealed that “over three-quarters of all jobs in the 100 largest metropolitan areas are in neighborhoods with transit service. Western metro areas like Los Angeles and Seattle exhibit the highest coverage rates, while rates are lowest in Southern metro areas like Atlanta and Greenville, S.C."

Atlanta very well may be home to the largest number of S.O.V.s – or single occupant vehicles – in the entire country. With that in mind, vRide is attempting to help alleviate the every-day stress of driving through an easy-to-use alternate commuting system.

Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Troy, Mich., vRide touts itself as the country’s largest vanpooling company. With offices in more than 40 major cities in the U.S. and Europe and more than 5,000 operating vanpools, vRide provides an environmentally friendly transportation option that saves commuters time and money.

Vanpooling is similar to carpooling, but offers more room and schedule flexibility for customers. vRide vanpools typically consist of five to 15 people who pay a monthly cost to commute together to and from work in the roomy vans that feature amenities such as personal lights/vents and WiFi. vRide covers the cost of insurance and maintenance and riders split the cost of gas. Each participant receives a monthly $20 voucher, so the more riders, the cheaper it gets.

vRide estimates that it can save commuters up to $5,000 in gas and hundreds of hours wasted in traffic each year. The company guarantees a ride home and even will pay for a taxi should a participant decide to leave work early

Drivers keep the van at their residence and those interested in participating can check vRide’s database to locate a nearby vanpool or create one for themselves. Some of the companies using vRide in Atlanta include Turner Broadcasting and Georgia Pacific.

The vRide “Don’t be an S.O.V.” campaign is striving to take more than one million cars off the road by the end of next year.

vRide reps and comedian Anjelah Johnson recently came to Atlanta to promote their efforts to help save local commuters money, energy and time. In Atlanta, the goal is to remove 18,000 cars by the end of 2013.

“Traffic congestion in America’s major cities affects millions of commuters every day,’’ said John Garcia, chief sales and marketing officer of vRide. “Plus, rising gas costs and stand-still traffic are wreaking havoc on people’s budgets. If we can increase the use of public transportation and specifically van and carpooling by 26 percent in the next two years, we will take a million cars off the road every day during drive-time traffic hours.”

For more information, see www.vride.com or www.DontBeAnSOV.com.