The Washington area’s carpool program has started a new service for carpooling parents hauling their kids to school. A dozen schools, both private and public, have signed on to use the free SchoolPool online service, which is provided by the Metropolitan Council of Washington Governments as part of its Commuter Connections carpool program for workers.
The system began registering interested parents Tuesday, and the goal is to link up the families by the first day of school, Commuter Connections Director Nicholas Ramfos said.
“The goal here is to target the schools that don’t have public transportation or they don’t have a school bus system,” he said.
Eight of the 12 locations are parochial schools, including St. Peter’s School in Olney and the Calverton School in Huntingtown, Md., where parents are expected to pay or provide transportation.
The program allows families new to the area or with children just beginning school to easily connect with other parents for the first time.
Most of the schools are in Frederick County and Southern Maryland, but Ramfos expects schools in the District and Virginia to join the program this year.
The online database matches the registered routes and sends out the contact information of potential carpool partners. Most carpools will consist of two to three families.
Similar programs operate in Denver and Delaware. The success of those programs and the increased interest in Commuter Connections led to the new initiative, which can be found at commuterconnections.org/schoolpool, Ramfos said.
“We saw a direct correlation between gas prices and interest in the program,” he said.
But beyond cutting traffic and trips to the pump, the program could set an example for kids.
“If you have students thinking about travel to and from school, as they mature and get into driving situations, this will carry over into their adult stages and they’ll tend to want to carpool,” he said.
