CRANBERRY TWP — Employees from Westinghouse Electric are taking advantage of CommuteInfo's vanpool services as it has established nine van pools to ease their commutes to work.

Lisa Kay Schweyer, CommuteInfo program developer, said those nine vans travel from areas around the former headquarters of Westinghouse in the Murraysville, Monroeville, Irwin and Harrison Township areas of Allegheny County to Cranberry Woods off Route 228.

The vanpool vehicles being used by the groups in Cranberry all have 15 seats.

There are 120 participants currently riding in the vanpools traveling to Cranberry.

And there also are nine people carpooling, according to Schweyer.

Vanpool costs vary based on the length of the commute, the number of people riding on the van, whether the group pays for parking as well as many other factors, according to CommuteInfo website.

The vanpool vehicles are leased to the group. The vans used for vanpooling are specially customized for the riders comfort and seat 7 to 15 passengers.

Most monthly fares have been running between $90 and $110 per rider, although there is one run that is about $125 per month per rider.

The fares cover the cost to lease the vehicle, maintenance and insurance.

The variable costs of parking, tolls and gas sometimes are handled as a separate expense. In other cases, those costs are part of the fare.

A typical commuter driving roundtrip from Monroeville to the Westinghouse campus in Cranberry Township would spend about $800 per month, not counting turnpike tolls, Schweyer said.

The same type trip in a CommuteInfo Cranberry vanpool averages $125 per month per participant.

That translates to a $675 per month savings per participant compared to the estimated cost of driving alone, Schweyer said.

Westinghouse employee Vic Perry said he and several of his colleagues were looking for a better, less expensive way to get to work, and he suggested they find out more about vanpooling.

“My wife had taken a van from White Oak to Oakland for about seven years because she disliked driving,” Perry said. “I decided to explore the feasibility of using that form of transportation as a cost alternative.”

Schweyer said a group of employees worked together with the CommuteInfo staff to establish the best days and times for their commutes to make the vanpools work.

With the Westinghouse vanpool, there are 10 vanpools operating in Cranberry, with the other pool one that travels from Cranberry to downtown Pittsburgh.

There also are two vanpools that are running from Evans City to downtown Pittsburgh and to the Oakland section of the city, Schweyer said.

“One of those employees knew about vanpooling and the CommuteInfo program,” Schweyer said.

“Interested in learning more about how CommuteInfo might be able to save him and his co-workers money, he contacted the program through the toll-free number. Several follow-up meetings were held, and one-by-one, new vanpool groups were formed.”

With the addition of the Westinghouse vanpools, the CommuteInfo program has had a 20 percent increase in the number of vanpool groups during the last year.

John Trant, Cranberry's chief strategic planner, said transportation is part of the township's strategic overall plan.

The results of a survey conducted during the strategic planning process showed that many in the township think public transportation is important for the community, notably trips to Pittsburgh and to the township.

With the funding issues dogging public transportation in recent years, the township has worked to find alternatives, partnering with the Southwestern Planning Commission's CommuteInfo program.

The SPC is the region's transportation planning agency that helps establish regional transportation projects.

That program not only provides van pooling services, but helps develop ridesharing between individuals.

For vanpooling, Trant said the township has been able to link the township's businesses with the CommuteInfo to provide information.

Trant described the ridesharing program as akin to an online dating service by which people enter the information about their work schedules and are provided with people that could match up with their commuting needs.

Because ridesharing is a person-to-person agreement, Trant said, there's really not a way to effectively track the number of people using the service.

However, he did say the CommuteInfo website has definitely seen increased use from the Cranberry area.

Those looking for information about CommuteInfo programs, including vanpooling, ridesharing, biking, walking and park-and-ride facility information, can visit its website at www.commuteinfo.org or call 888-819-6110.