[E-updates] Carpool Connection offers holiday promotion

[Lisa Patterson]

NEWS RELEASE City of Lawrence, KS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2006

Contact: Cliff Galante, Public Transit Administrator, 832-3464
 
Carpool Connection offers holiday promotion
Search for carpool partners online to save money on commute, win prizes
 
(Lawrence, KS) - Lawrence area commuters can save money on gas and share the driving by signing up on Carpool Connection-and they might even win a prize in the process.
To encourage continued use and growth of its Carpool Connection Web-based matching service, the Lawrence Transit System and the Mid-America Regional Council's RideShare Program will conduct random prize drawings on December 5, just in time for the holidays. Commuters will be automatically entered in the drawing when they register a new account or send an e-mail message to someone on their generated carpool match list. Prizes include:
* Two passes (each admits two) to a 2007 production of the American Heartland Theater at Crown Center, courtesy of American Heartland Theater 
* Two tickets to Lawrence Community Theater's production of "The Curious Savage" in March 2007, courtesy of Lawrence Community Theatre 
* A $50 Downtown Lawrence, Inc. gift certificate for businesses in downtown Lawrence 
* A $50 gift card to the Country Club Plaza 
* Two $50 gift cards to Target 
* A $25 trade card courtesy of the K.C. Hopps restaurant group, operators of the 75th Street Brewery, Barley's and other restaurants.
 
Prize winners will be notified via e-mail on Tuesday, December 5, 2006, and their names will be posted online.
Lawrence Transit System and RideShare launched Carpool Connection in June as a free and easy way for commuters interested in carpooling to find each other. The online matching service assists people who live or work in, or commute to or from Douglas County or the eight-county MARC region. To date, there are more than 1,000 commuters registered with the service, and more than 200 of those are from Lawrence. Lawrence is the highest ranked starting location among users, just ahead of Kansas City, Missouri.
 
Casey Wallace is one person who found a carpool match using the site. She works in the admissions office at Johnson County Community College and makes the commute from Lawrence with two other people. Wallace has been impressed with how easily carpooling fits into her schedule and improves her commute.
 
"I get a lot of benefits out of it," Wallace said. "I don't even have to think about the traffic when I'm not driving, which is two or three times a week. It gets me up and gets me going in the morning with conversation."
Carpool Connection enables commuters to create password-protected accounts where they enter their starting and destination points, work hours and carpooling preferences, and can instantly search for other users with similar commutes. Members can confidentially e-mail their matches to start a conversation about carpooling.
Commuters can access Carpool Connection via the Lawrence Transit System Web site at www.lawrencetransit.org or the RideShare Web site at www.marc.org/rideshare.

 
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