Wed
Feb 15 2012
07:46 pm
Smarter ways to commute
By: R. Neal

A message from the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization:

Gas prices have jumped up and are only expected to climb, and may reach $4 by Memorial Day. There is an organization in the Knoxville area that can help commuters save money on gas through carpooling or trying bicycle commuting or trying transit: Smart Trips.

Smart Trips is a FREE service. We have an online ridematching database that you can use to find carpool partners. We can also help you get started using the bus or bicycling to work or school.

Regular participants are also eligible to win $10, $50 and $100 gift cards through our program. We also offer free Emergency Rides Home when you use carpooling, bicycling, or taking the bus as your way to get to work (restrictions apply).

For more information, go to (link...).

Topics:
Brian A.'s picture

Cycling through Knoxville,

Submitted by Brian A. on Thu, 2012/02/16 - 12:55am.

Cycling through Knoxville, and not getting run over in the process, is its own reward.

bizgrrl's picture

They need to add some sort of

Submitted by bizgrrl on Thu, 2012/02/16 - 6:48am.

They need to add some sort of "smart" van service to/from Blount County. They should target large employers, e.g UT, hospitals, Denso, Oak Ridge, etc.

Brian A.'s picture

Has anyone tried to do this?

Submitted by Brian A. on Thu, 2012/02/16 - 1:50pm.

Has anyone tried to do this? It seems feasible with $4 gas.

Treehouse's picture

Absolutely

Submitted by Treehouse on Thu, 2012/02/16 - 11:11am.

I have to drive 45 minutes each way to ORNL and although they pay lip service to carpooling, they don' really support it. What we need are "park and rides" from several different areas around Knoxville. I love Smart Trips but they depend on people signing up and taking that first step is awfully hard for many people.

jbr's picture

There used to be a database

Submitted by jbr on Thu, 2012/02/16 - 3:22pm.

There used to be a database at X10 where employees zip code was listed. You could say you needed a ride or carpool and somehow, I do not recall details since it was a long time ago, you were matched with other folks in your area and you sorted out the details. It worked great for me.

Treehouse's picture

Not so helpfil

Submitted by Treehouse on Thu, 2012/02/16 - 4:54pm.

Yes, there is a database so now there's two--including Smart Trips--so it's rather confusing. There is no "match." You have to seek out other carpoolers and the 100 or so fewer that there are in the database are already matched up. Again, it takes a person signing up to participate and that's a hurdle.

bizgrrl's picture

Yes, it would be great if

Submitted by bizgrrl on Thu, 2012/02/16 - 5:08pm.

Yes, it would be great if they budgeted a year or two for a van pool to selected locations based on residency of employees. Then, for Oak Ridge employees they would want to include some sort of van/shuttle to make it easy to go to lunch, etc.

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