Vanpool FAQ

Pricing for vanpools varies depending on the type of vehicle, the monthly commute miles, and the number of people in your vanpool. The more riders, the lower the cost per person.  If your vanpool’s daily commute begins or ends in Durham, Orange, or Wake counties, GoTriangle provides a monthly subsidy to reduce the cost of your vanpool. The average vanpooler saves up to 75% on their commuting costs versus driving their own personal vehicle. Not sure of your current commuting costs? Use our Commute Cost Calculator to find out, and estimate your savings.

We offer a wide variety of 7-15 passenger vehicles to choose from including minivans, crossovers, SUV’s, and large vans, Vanpools will receive new or low-mileage vehicles. Vanpool groups have flexibility to change to a different size or type of vehicle as needed. Vehicles are replaced typically by 40,000 or fewer miles for standard vehicles and 100,000 or fewer miles for larger specialty vehicles.

They are driven by vanpool participants, similar to carpool. Vanpools can have as many drivers as they would like. We recommend each vanpool have at least two drivers who can share the driving responsibilities to ensure an approved driver is always available.

Vanpools will receive 200 monthly personal miles compared with 100 monthly personal miles currently. We’ve found that typically a couple people prefer driving in any given vanpool. We recommend having several drivers so that everyone can take full advantage of being able to get back some time on their commute.

Each vanpool group sets their own route and times. Most vanpools meet at a central location in the morning and ride together to work.

All vanpools include maintenance, $1M in liability coverage, and full physical damage protection with no deductible. When maintenance is due, we will notify the vanpool coordinator and provide instructions on how to get the maintenance completed at one of our many service providers.

Vanpool participants have access to an online payment portal to set up their preferred payment method along with the ability to make one-time or recurring monthly payments. We accept Mastercard and Visa credit and debit cards, Go!Card, TranServe, and Citified benefit cards.

Vanpools are provided on a month-to-month basis. Vanpools can be cancelled with no penalty by the vanpool coordinator by giving 30 days written notice to Enterprise. Vanpool riders can also decide individually to leave a van and should notify their vanpool coordinator at least 30 days prior to leaving their vanpool.

We recommend having several drivers for any vanpool so that if someone is sick or on vacation there will be a backup driver and the vanpool can run as usual. If there is only one driver then either the driver or riders can use our free Emergency Ride Home program to get home.

Riding in a vanpool is a monthly commitment, regardless of how many days you actually ride in the vanpool. Some vanpools choose to make internal arrangements for part-time or occasional riders.

GoTriangle provides Emergency Ride Home program that vanpoolers can use in case of an emergency, whether your vanpool driver has to leave unexpectedly, you or a family member become sick, or you have to work overtime. Simply go the gotriangle.org/erh and sign up for the ERH program to get a taxi. You may use the service twice in a given month, up to six times a calendar year.

Visit www.strnc.org to see if there’s a vanpool you can join. If you don’t find a vanpool that’s perfect for you or if you’re interested in starting a new vanpool, contact Enterprise Rideshare at 1-800-VAN-4-WORK and a local representative can assist you. You can also go online to vanpool.com and fill out an inquiry form and we will contact you.

Vanpools are comprised of 4-15 individuals who commute together.