Ridesharing comes to Shaw Published Oct. 21, 2009 By Angelina Wilson 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- In April 2000, former President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13150 which officially supported the use of mass transportation and vanpools for commuting federal employees. Since then, bases have adopted their own versions of vanpooling. Shaw Air Force Base, in conjunction with the members of the Public/Private Partnership, is developing a unique program of its own. The Public/Private Partnership is a combined effort initiated by the Santee-Lynches Regional Council of Governments which includes the Regional Transit Agency, Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority; a vanpool agency, VPSI; and a private web-based management agency, AlterNet Rides. The partnership's purpose is to provide "rideshare alternatives" that encourage Shaw personnel, military and civilian, to commute to and from work using web-coordinated carpools, vanpools and public transportation. "We used to stick an index card on a bulletin board and hope we found someone to carpool with," said Orlando Papucci, Regional Transportation coordinator. "Now the Web site will coordinate all of that." The Shaw rideshare program is primarily targeted to those living in the areas surrounding Shaw, but possible routes would incorporate areas as far away as Columbia. "It just depends where the areas of interest are," said Papucci. The search for those areas of interest will begin in the next few weeks when organizers will begin surveying Shaw's commuting population using paper surveys and a web-based survey. The goal of the survey is to understand the transportation needs of Team Shaw and to get a measurement of the existing interest in ridesharing among commuters. At a planning meeting held Wednesday at the Carolina Skies Club here, members of the coordinating board met to further their rideshare initiative. The members included the program coordinator, Orlando Papucci of the Santee-Lynches Regional Council of Governments; Ann Dawson and Sandy Jenkins of the Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority; U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. (ret.) Thomas Olsen of the Sumter Base Defense Committee; and Justin Rison of the vanpool agency VPSI. Also in attendance were representatives from Shaw including the base coordinator for the program, Gary Hallmark; 20th Contracting Squadron Director of Business Operations Judith Croxton; and representatives from the legal office and security forces. "It's a joint partnership that strengthens Shaw and the Sumter community," Hallmark, the base community planner, noted. In addition to strengthening the relationship between Shaw and the local community, organizers note the benefits to participating which include saving money on fuel costs, helping one-car families, partnering people whose commute is longer than 15 miles one-way, reducing carbon outputs and alleviating traffic on and around Shaw. The organizers hope to roll out the program in early 2010. For more information on the program, contact Hallmark at gary.hallmark@shaw.af.mil or go to the RTA website www.swrta.com.