Vanpools are offered by regional transit agencies and provide groups of five or more individuals a vehicle to share their commute. To ride in a vanpool, you must live at least three miles away from campus.

Vanpool fares are set by the managing transit agency, based on the distance the van travels daily and the number of people in the vanpool. Each vanpool must assign one member to be the bookkeeper responsible for collecting fares. Vanpool fares cover the costs of the van, insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance and fuel. 

The University of Washington will provide a free parking permit for each van in one of the Seattle campus lots as well as a monthly subsidy to vanpoolers who have a U-PASS. This subsidy will provide full fare coverage each month. To receive the subsidy, provide the appropriate transit agency and your bookkeeper with your ORCA card serial number, a unique eight-digit number found on the left above the magnetic stripe on the back of your Husky Card. 

Getting started

Find a vanpool:

  1. Set up an account and search for possible ridematches at www.rideshareonline.com or by calling 888-814-1300.
  2. Contact a participating transit agency’s vanpool program coordinator (see links below).

Join an existing vanpool:

  1. Complete the transit agency vanpool application process (see links below).
  2. Make sure you have an active U-PASS. (This includes the fully subsidized employee U-PASS as well as the employee-paid U-PASS.)
  3. Provide the appropriate transit agency and your bookkeeper with your ORCA card serial number, found on the back of your Husky Card.
  4. Make sure you know the rules and regulations for parking at your destination.

Start a new vanpool:

  1. Identify who will be the primary driver, the backup driver and the bookkeeper.
  2. Complete the transit agency vanpool application process (see links below).
  3. Make sure that you have an active U-PASS. (This includes the fully subsidized employee U-PASS as well as the employee-paid U-PASS.)
  4. Provide the appropriate transit agency and your bookkeeper with your ORCA card serial number, found on the back of your Husky Card.
  5. Make sure you know the rules and regulations for parking at your destination.
  6. Decide who in the vanpool will get the two gratis U-PASSes.

Participating transit agencies

Commuters are eligible to ride a vanpool with any agency that operates in the county in which their commute starts or ends.