Guaranteed Ride Home

* Re “Emergency Ride Service Helping, Officials Say,” March 5.

This article describes the success of the Ventura County Guaranteed Ride Home (GRH) program for car-poolers and transit users and mentions that Connecticut is considering a similar program. In fact, in Connecticut we already have several types of GRH programs.

In Fairfield County, employers pay into a fund that allows any of their employees to access GRH services. In Hartford County, van-poolers and holders of express bus passes can call a broker to arrange a ride at no cost to the employee or the employer. New Haven County’s program is a hybrid, with rail pass holders eligible for the free GRH program while other employees only have access to the employer-sponsored program. Statewide, the GRH program is open to all participants in the welfare-to-work program.

In all of these models we have had an experience similar to Ventura County’s: GRH provides a safety net for bus, rail, vanpool and carpool commuters but is seldom used. Commuters value knowing the ride is there if they need to get home or to a child’s school in an emergency, or need to work past their regular ride home. Yet fewer than 10% of eligible commuters have ever used the guaranteed ride program.

Guaranteed Ride is a win-win. Commuters have the security of knowing they can get a ride almost as easily as if they had their own car with them. Transit and ride-sharing programs get new riders for a very minimal investment in GRH “insurance.”

MICHAEL SANDERS

Transit Administrator

Connecticut Department

of Transportation

Newington, Conn.