METRANS Student Assistant Eric Tunell recently joined LA Metro’s Vanpool Program as a planning intern. We asked him to share his experience so far with readers of METRANS On the Move.

We asked if he would start by telling us more about the Vanpool Program.  “The program administers over 1,000 active vanpools in LA County and it is the largest in the country.” Tunnell shared.  “Participants in the program lease vehicles from a private company and in exchange for tracking their commute information and submitting accurate data, they receive a subsidy (up to $400) that helps reduce the costs of their commutes. Employers with greater than 250 employees that are located in the South Coast Air Quality Management District are required by law to implement trip reduction programs to help reduce congestion and emissions, and MetroVanpool helps many of them to achieve that goal. It also helps provide a ride to individuals who work night shifts or on large factories or campuses that are difficult to access via public transit.”

Tunnell is currently charged with reviewing Vanpool applications for accuracy and completeness. “Our team also reviews Call for Proposals, which are essentially smaller funding requests that come from cities throughout LA County,” he added.  “I recently helped with a marketing meeting for Employee Transportation Coordinators, the individuals who are responsible for administering trip reduction programs at their place of work. The Vanpool Program falls under our Planning Department's Shared Mobility group, so I am hoping to help out with some of the expansion of the Metro Bike Share that will happen this summer in Pasadena, Venice, and the Port of LA.”

Tunnell has found his internship interesting and timely. “This is a really exciting time to be at Metro, given all the changes that are coming as a result of Measure M. There also seems to be a sense of excitement within the organization now that the CEO, Phil Washington, has been in position for a while and is pushing for flexibility, innovation and a culture of excellence. With 11,000 employees, Metro is certainly a big ship to steer, but on any given day we provide 1.3 million trips to Angelenos, and I love being of service to our communities.”

All of us at METRANS wish him well in his new position!

About the author

Meiduo Ji is a second-year graduate student majoring in Urban Planning at the University of Southern California. She is also pursuing a GIS Certificate in Geospatial Intelligence. She works as a student assistant at METRANS Transportation Center and is also an intern in Kendall Planning + Design, designing maps for Metro First Last Mile Training Workshops. As a planning learner, she concentrates on transportation planning and aims to apply her GIS skills to the planning field. She can be reached at [email protected].