VanpoolsThe new HOV

1

Caroline Karvonen – Leader, Environmental Office

PowerStream Inc

• Energy company that distributes electricity and provides related services

• Serve more than 370,000 customers located immediately north of Toronto and in Central Ontario

• Service area >850 km2 with a population of approximately 1,000,000

• More than 500 employees• Over $1 billion in assets• Second largest municipally-owned distribution company in

Ontario

Service Territory

Locations of offices:• Barrie• Markham• Vaughan (Head Office + other)• 60 km BarrieVaughan• 25 km VaughanMarkham

• Primarily suburban areas, close to major highways

What is a Vanpool

• Employer sponsored ‘carpool’ carrying up to 8 employees to and from work

• Vehicle provided by PowerStream• Cost of operations and maintenance covered by participants

• Cost varies from $80/person/month to >$100 – depending on number of participants, fuel usage, road tolls (407)

• Automatically deducted from pay cheque

4

Why a vanpool

• Office relocation/amalgamation• 2008 – moved office from Markham to Vaughan• 2010 – merged with Barrie Hydro• Large number of staff commuting from farther distances

• Geographic concentration of those people• Confirmed through Smart Commute survey

• Smart Commute North Toronto Vaughan instrumental in establishment

History of vanpools

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2010 2 vans as a pilot – MarkhamVaughan, BarrieVaughan PowerStream merged with Barrie Hydro – more staff now commuting 60 km to office Vaughan.

1,2

2011 Added 2nd van BarrieVaughan 3

2012 2 vans from BarrieMarkham 4,5

2013 launched WhitbyMarkham added 1 more from BarrieMarkham 6,7

2014 Added van to BarrieVaughan route. Launched new van from UxbridgeMarkham (almost entirely participant driven)

8,9

9 vans now in operation

Risk Management

• Have multiple trained drivers• Obtain all driver abstracts

from MTO• Ensure only employees are

transported – vehicles only used for commute and business purposes

Risk Management

• All riders sign a ridership agreement• Move to smaller vehicles – all vans will be Honda Odyssey (max 7

riders)• Limit riders to 8 in a 9 passenger van this sustains a regular G

license level

Individual Benefits

• Reduced cost of fuel and parking

• Less wear and tear/depreciation on vehicle

• Lower insurance rates• Less stress from not driving

everyday• Lower environmental

footprint • Part of a team

Company Benefits

• Employee retention• Employee engagement• Wellness - Lessening stress from driving• Media

Some Stats

• Started with 16 people using vans• 59 people use vanpools and +20 occasional riders that rent seats

(via Outlook calendars)

• Each vanpool (on average) saves over 40 tCO2e/yr (~360 tCO2e/yr)

• Spurred growth of carpools, which in turn grew vanpool program

Some issues…

• Collisions – minor invloving van + object (lamp post, underground garage pillar etc)

• Speeding – all fleet vehicles have GPS installed which we can access to track speeding and verify reported instances (i.e. customers notifying us via Twitter)

• Vanpool participant issues – people that consistently delay van departure

Issues continued…

• “Free vehicle” – ensure that it is not used for commute/approved business

• Staff arriving early/leaving late – reports from Supervisors• Vans that don’t start from an office – need to find

community/business partners that will allow participants to leave vehicle for the day

Starting a vanpool

• Best at companies that have a fleet• Easier to manage ongoing maintenance• Vehicle available for other purposes during the day

• Begins with survey to determine geographic concentrations of people – need at least 8 people to start discussions

Getting started

• Meetings!• Determine appropriate pickup area – satellite office location,

carpool lots, plazas (gain permission if required)• Pickup times• Help determine logistics – but let the participants work it out

• Order vehicle• Start a greener commute!

Our vanpool future

• Ideally – more vans!• Manage waitlists for permanent seats on several vans• Minimal time spent on promotion - employees now provide me with

a list of people for their van• Included info in New Employee Orientation - increase in

riders/temporary riders after these sessions• Vanpool remains strong, and will hopefully grow

Thank you

More than happy to answer any questions:

Caroline Karvonen

Leader, Environmental Office

PowerStream Inc.

Caroline.karvonen@powerstream.ca

905-532-1057