Longer Commutes, Increased Traffic, and Higher Gas Prices Drive Growth of Ridesharing; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Makes Ridesharing Attractive and Eases Commuting Woes for Thousands of Southern Californians

CARSON, Calif.--June 20, 2005--Thousands of commuters are vanpooling or ridesharing to work in Southern California but not in programs run by large employers or local government agencies; these are private vanpools taking advantage of Enterprise Rent-A-Car's unique commuter vanpool program.

Enterprise administers more than 1,000 vanpools in Southern California that are rented out to individual groups ranging from 6-15 commuters, and the company says demand is steadily increasing. Participating commuters save hundreds of dollars a month, shave time off of their commute, reduce wear and tear on their own car and significantly reduce stress.

"Once commuters learn the immediate financial benefits it becomes an easy decision to start up a vanpool," said Casey Barnes, group rideshare manager, Enterprise Rent-A-Car. "As soon as many of these Southern California commuters experience vanpooling, they're hooked. In fact, the average vanpool arrangement lasts over two years even though most vanpools are rented on a simple month-to-month basis."

The company cites rising housing prices forcing Southern California workers to move further away from their jobs as a major catalyst for the growth. Also, with rush hour freeway speeds in California now averaging 35 mph, and rush hour times extending seven hours a day (6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.) commuters are running out of options to avoid traffic.

The Enterprise program differs from the old model of vanpooling in that the employer is minimally involved and in most cases the vanpool participants themselves pay the entire cost each month. Enterprise will work with any company with 200 or more employees to set-up and administer an employee vanpool program at their work site. Vanpool groups, are formed by Enterprise, which uses a proprietary process to match up employees who live near one another and who have the same work hours. On average, a vanpool participant can expect to pay $130-160 a month including gas and insurance.

In comparison, a commuter driving a 2004 Ford Explorer 75 miles to and from work roundtrip each day averages approximately $426.00 a month in commute costs alone including gas, car depreciation due to the added miles, maintenance, and extra added insurance cost based on higher mileage driving. In addition to cost savings, vanpools that take advantage of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes save, on average, one minute per mile they travel. The average vanpool in California that uses HOV lanes cuts its travel time by 40 minutes per day.

Also, participants may be eligible to receive a tax incentive allowing a $105 a month gross income exemption from taxes if they use the money to pay for a vanpool. If eligible, participants are able to exempt up to a total of $1260 a year from taxes. In addition, there are a number of subsidy programs available that many vanpool groups can take advantage of. For instance, in San Diego County, many vanpools are eligible for a $400 per month subsidy, and in the Inland Empire, many new vanpools are eligible for an $1800 "start-up" vanpool subsidy.

Another attractive benefit often overlooked is that almost all major auto insurance companies offer significant discounts (10 percent to 30 percent) to drivers who designate their cars as a "recreational vehicles only," which means to be used solely for purposes other than driving to work.

Enterprise has created a full-service support plan that provides everything a vanpool needs from maintenance and roadside assistance to insurance. It offers a toll-free customer service support line to help riders with billing questions and all other operational and administrative issues. Participants also have access to Enterprises Guaranteed Ride Home, which ensures they are always able to leave work at unscheduled times in the case of emergencies and/or unforeseen events for an additional cost per trip. Commuters at companies with fewer than 200 employees can look for existing vanpool groups to join on Enterprise's vanpool website, www.vanpool.com

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Enterprise Rent-A-Car operates more than 700,000 rental and fleet services vehicles worldwide and has annual revenues of more than $7.4 billion. Its California operation, with nearly 800 locations, is the company's largest region and the leader in its market. Last year, Enterprise opened more than 500 new locations, increasing its total locations to more than 6,000. Enterprise is currently number 16 on the Forbes "500 Largest Private Companies in America" list. For more information about Enterprise, visit www.enterprise.com.