How much can vanpooling save on your gasoline bill? Well, it depends on a lot of factors, including the cost of gas, miles per gallon and commute subsidies, but even a rough estimate shows that you can save a lot.

Peter Brinckerhoff, Student Information System project manager, prepared this calculation based on his commuting with the Placer County vanpool since it began 15 years ago:

Figure 212 driving days per year, for a total of 3,180 driving days over 15 years. Then, figure 100 miles per day, for a total of 318,000 miles. At 14 miles per gallon, you can figure this commute required 22,714 gallons of gas.

At an average cost of $1 per gallon over 15 years, the cost of gas would have been $22,714 for a single driver. But, split eight ways in a vanpool, each would have paid only $2,839.

You can also figure it this way: If an average of six people per day skipped the vanpool and drove by themselves, they would have driven a total of 1.9 million miles. At 14 mpg, they would have used 136,286 gallons of gas. At an average price of $1 a gallon, the gas would have cost $136,286, compared with $22,714 for the van.

For details on vanpooling to and from the main campus, contact Ann Davies-Nesbitt alternative transportation coordinator for Transportation and Parking Services: (530) 752-6453 or amdaviesnesbitt@ucdavis.edu. For the medical center in Sacramento, contact Dave Entrekin of Parking and Transportation Services, (916) 734-2239 or dave.entrekin@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.