Local Campaign Issues: Commuter Vans for Office Workers in Upstate New York

A lot of people are upset with rising gas prices, and do not want to take mass transit. There are a few reasons why this is so. First of all, there are buses that run year-round throughout New York State, however, the long distance buses attract a certain clientele whose dress code is not going to fit into the dress code of most offices. The long-distance buses also do not stop everywhere, in every town that commuters need to get to. For the long-distance commuter, the price of taking the inter-city bus is as much as driving a truck around the New York State Thruway, without being paid for the time. We need a pool of commuter vans in order to help commuters get from town to town, especially now that telecommuting has increased.

The Amtrak trains also run a few times per day, and are not always there when someone needs to get somewhere, and run between major cities only. We need some form of commuting that is more than individual and less than mass transit to get our people to and from work, such as the commuter van pool.

Then, there are the rising prices of cabs, which are very upsetting to a lot of people. A lucky few are able to obtain free rental cars when the vehicle used to do commuting is at the mechanics shop, however, most people are not so lucky. Cabs cost twenty dollars to go almost anywhere locally, and may not wait for the commuter to get out of the door. There are also frequent dispatch delays, which mean that the commuter may need to call up the cab company up to an hour prior to the taxicab's arrival. This does not help the household economy, having more white-collar workers taking cabs does not help the economy. Given the use of a commuter van pool, we could reduce the wait time for cabs, and reduce complaints, while encouraging office employees to ride-share.

Gasoline prices are bad already, and we can expect this to continue, the need to heat homes is going to continue, and we need to reduce our gasoline consumption somehow. One way, is by designing Sport Utility Vehicles to be mobile office spaces and living spaces, which would completely disrupt the nuclear family, so we are not going to recommend this. We are recommending improving shuttle van service, and encouraging ride share programs.

This is Upstate New York we are talking about here - Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Albany are more than just sprinkled with snow between December and March, most years. Sometimes, snow strikes during unexpected months, and commuters taking the public bus need a little more protection than an umbrella (although this helps) while getting to work. The mass transit system is not designed, with its circuitous routes, for the average office employee, or full-time worker. The mass transit system is adequate for older public schoolers, part-time workers with day shifts at the shopping mall, part-time housekeepers, and senior citizens en route to the doctor's office or senior citizens center. What we need are shuttle vans designed for the full-time office worker.

We are not talking about building housing along the New York State Thruway and building a bicycle lane in order to improve the summer economy, and ease the worker shortage at the New York State Thruway rest areas, with an electric hub at the center of every community, completely powered by local projects, independent of the national grid. Having a few commuter vans going about each town, electric or hybrid vehicles if possible, would be a pilot project that would more than likely unearth the need for commuter vans manned by professional drivers to get busy workers who are full-time telecommuters and full-time office help to and from the place that the work needs to be dropped off at.

We are not talking about having the usual mass transit buses going along every road in every major town in Upstate New York. We are discussing the utilization of shuttle vans from park -n- ride lot or shopping center to office complex. These vans would be a place where professionals could get to and from their place of business, while working on their laptops or talking to someone at the office on the cell phone. There are some people who no longer have the luxury of time to spend driving, who need to be in contact with their co-workers, superiors, subordinates, buyers, suppliers, or clients about various projects; or to do the human side of business by way of exchanging jokes and talking about local sports, or other small talk subject.

The hybrid vehicles and the electric vehicles are generally purchased by someone with connections at the Department of Energy, a federal government agency, part of the executive branch, that is having difficulties convincing ordinary people like you and me to apply for the grant money to make the switch from gasoline to electric for anything. The New York State government needs to avoid spending money for projects like this, and if money is available from the Department of Energy, certainly, we should take advantage of this.

We need to get the commuter vans out now! The Big 3 automobile manufacturers of Detroit is moving out their 2009 line of vehicles, and their 2008 vehicles will be old soon. We could probably receive some free electric vehicles from places like the Ford Proving Grounds in Romeo, Michigan free of charge (maybe even receive payment for the beta-testing of the vehicles), and use those for driving around the track at the local parks, if they break down while on the park, the park workers should be within minutes of each other; meanwhile, we take the new vehicles and use these for the van pool. We could begin the pilot program this winter, with one or two commuter vans per day per location.

In 2009, we could expand the service, and begin contacting manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, and Honda - companies that are all highly interested in developing hybrid and electric vehicles, companies that are looking to outsource some of their evaluation programs. We could get the community involved with the development of the commuter van, and increase our cash flow, without needing to deplete our budget. These van services could run throughout commuter neighborhoods, and would help to bridge the gap between car, bus, and rail.

By 2010, we will have commuters asking for new locations for park-n-ride lots, as a certain percentage of the shuttle van commuters will have met and become acquainted with other people commuting via the shuttle vans, and will want to be using their people rather than the public van. Meanwhile, other people will be interested in using the commuter vans. There should be a good supply and demand equation for this commuter van pool - it should work for everyone.