Metro Transit offers commuter alternatives you may not have heard of

BOTHELL, Wash. -- Traffic troubles come with any growing community, but you have options!

Metro Transit's Community Connections program has come up with several solutions around King County.

Residents of King County may have seen the Yellow and Green Metro Busses and VanPool options on area roads for years, but, new to a number of communities in our area, including Bothell and Woodinville, is the ridesharing concept and option of TripPool, Cathy Snow the Program Manager for King County Metro’s Community Connections explains:

"So, the TripPool uses a Metro provided van, uses a volunteer driver, both of those are true for VanPool as well, but the other riders can join it as needed and there’s an app that enables the communication between the driver and the potential riders to get those rides coordinated."

Pretty simple -- by downloading the iCarpool app, riders are able to scope out vans and rides available in their area and can even use their ORCA card to pay for the ride.

"Once a rider registers with the app and then also registers their ORCA card if they have one in our system, if those two things happen, then the TripPool Trip is considered a pre-transfer trip if you will, because the other major difference between TripPool and VanPool is the TripPool vehicle doesn’t go all the way to a workplace environment it goes to a transit hub, so a Park and Ride, like the Bothell Park and Ride, or a transit center, so the folks that have come along in the vehicle to the transit hub then catch the transit that gets them to where they need to go," said Snow.

The vans themselves are a young fleet, ADA compliant with a lightweight ramps, can seat about six passengers, and they get their own designated parking spaces at their final destinations. Incidentally, King county Metro is also recruiting more volunteer drivers, again the process here is pretty straightforward as well.

"At a very high level they need to express their interest first of all, we do run a DMV check to make sure there are no safety concerns, then we also have required orientation training, provided all of that does check out and the driver does all of that then the driver becomes approved and is good to go!"

Checking the boxes and giving commuters more options, the idea of TripPool is one more to consider for the residents of Bothell and Woodinville.