The City of Richmond is the workplace for many long-distance commuters from places such as Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, and Hampton. These are people who are feeling significant fi nancial stress from the rapidly rising cost of gasoline.

As gas prices hold around $4 per gallon, the fuel expense of commuting in the typical single-passenger vehicle (23 mpg) from Williamsburg to Richmond is more than $395 per month -- more than $4,700 per year. Commuters from Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, and Hampton spend between $5,500 and $7,000 per year in fuel costs. There is a better way.

VANPOOLING IS a ride-sharing arrangement that allows seven to 15 people to share equally in the costs of commuting to work in a passenger van. The fee for a vanpool participant can range from $90 per month to $200 per month, depending on the length of the commute, and many employers provide a mass-transit benefit to help pay for vanpooling. A person commuting in a vanpool from Hampton will spend about $2,000 a year on vanpool fees, resulting in a savings of at least $5,000 per year on fuel alone.

Vanpooling comes with many other benefits that might be less obvious -- such as reduced wear and tear on personal vehicles. Riders also have a less stressful commute because they are able to relax with a book, sleep, or develop relationships with other riders rather than drive. Vanpools use HOV lanes that are off-limits to single-passenger vehicles, often resulting in a quicker commute for the group.

VANPOOLING has many positive impacts on our society. Each vanpool removes six to 14 vehicles from our increasingly congested roads each day. Fewer vehicles on the road means reduced harmful emissions into the air that we breathe. Vanpools also reduce oil and fuel consumption in a time of supply concerns. My employer, VPSI, operates vanpools that conserve more than 26 million gallons of fuel and eliminate more than a quarter of a million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere each year.

The popularity of vanpooling is at an all-time high. The fleet size of the VPSI regional office in Richmond has grown from 39 vanpools to 83 vanpools since the start of 2006, representing an increase of more than 100 percent. Still, I find that when I go out to market the program only a small fraction of commuters are familiar with the concept, clearly demonstrating there are so many people out there we can help -- people like Sterling Deal.

STERLING HAS been operating a 15-passenger vanpool from Charlottesville to Richmond since 1991. VPSI provides the 15-passenger van, along with a full maintenance package and insurance coverage. During this time, Sterling has saved at least $30,000 in fuel expenses, even though fuel was less than $2 throughout the 1990s. In today's market, Sterling saves more than $5,000 per year on fuel expenses alone.

Sterling also has saved himself more than 600,000 personal vehicle miles by vanpooling. I have not personally owned a vehicle that was much good after 200,000 miles, so the way I'd figure it, vanpooling has saved Sterling the expense of three automobiles in addition to his fuel savings. I wonder how many oil changes and tires a person goes through in the course of commuting 600,000 miles. Vanpooling is the gift that keeps on giving.