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Seeking solutions: Evansville woman plans commuter co-op

EVANSVILLE — Linda Donoghue thinks she has a solution to the high cost of commuting.

She’s developed a plan for a vanpool cooperative called Community Commuter Cooperative. Families would buy in, share rides and eventually profit.

“People who have jobs these days are really fortunate, but the cost of gasoline is eating away at the fabric of our communities, and something has to be done,” she said. “I know change is difficult. It’s asking for a culture change.”

She’s looking for residents to start a steering committee and hopes to eventually sign up 50 to 60 families willing to adjust their schedules and “willing to commit to making an honest-to-God change in their lives.”

The cost of her daily commute pushed Donoghue to consider moving back to Madison, something she doesn’t want to do, she said.

“I love it in Evansville.”

The state vanpool program is great, but its hours don’t fit her work schedule of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., she said.

Her idea would offer flexibility both in timing and destination. And the cooperative structure might make it unique. Donoghue said she hasn’t found any transportation co-ops in her research.

A board of directors and co-op members would decide how the business would run. A Web site would act as the “dispatch system” to match riders.

Donoghue said the numbers make sense:

-- A pool van running on work days would cost about $5,500 annually. That’s assuming it gets between 12 to 18 mpg, makes a 50-mile commute plus pick-up and drop-off miles for 10 riders and uses biodiesel or diesel at $5.50 a gallon.

-- A commuter driving 50 miles a day would spend $27.50 a day on gas and vehicle maintenance, based on the federal reimbursement rate of 55 cents a mile. If that commuter works 20 days a month, that’s $6,600 a year.

-- A co-op member would pay a one-time, lifetime membership fee of $750 plus $200 a month—$2,400 a year—to participate.

-- The difference is an annual savings of “$4,200 left over for that family to put money they didn’t have to spend,” Donoghue said.

-- After the co-op has a constant cash flow, profits would be returned to members.

She’s already gaining support. She said Mayor Sandy Decker sat on her couch listening for three hours.

She figures $325,000 is needed to get the co-op going, but much of that would come through grants, which she said are plentiful for this type of idea.

Donoghue understands her idea will take a lot of people “willing to get in there and get it done,” but, she said, “that brings the community together and solves problems.”

TO HELP

Linda Donoghue would like to see a vanpool cooperative running by fall 2009, and she’s looking for anyone interested in helping, including people with legal, financial, computer and grant-writing skills. To contact Donoghue, call her at (608) 882-2462.