Most Valuable Commuter

Mike Lunnenborg - EWU

Mike is the Fire Protection Engineer for EWU. After Mike began working at EWU, he started riding the bus to Cheney to save the 60 roundtrip miles on his car each day. Living in Otis Orchards, his commute by bus took him over an hour each way. In 2015, Mike and another employee decided to try and get a vanpool going. Mike agreed to be the primary driver and his fellow employee agreed to be the back up. Mike played a critical role in getting the van on the road, recruiting the passengers needed to fill the van. They now have a 5-6 person vanpool, all riders being EWU employees. Mike vanpools nearly every day, unless he has an appointment.

Mike doesn’t see any challenges in vanpooling to work. They work around vacations and scheduling conflicts, and if both Mike the back-up driver aren’t available, they have a group text to notify the riders of any changes. And if an emergency pops up during the day, EWU offers a Guaranteed Ride Home program for any of the riders to get home.

Mike does all the reporting for the van and also takes the van in for any maintenance work required. He does all this on his own time, to keep the vanpool going. He also provides doorstep service to one of the riders who lives a little bit out of the way. Keeping the vanpool riders happy is his way of ensuring the van stays on the road!

ETC, Michelle Rasmussen, says “Mike goes out of his way to ensure his van-mates are happy and makes sure other employees around EWU know about the benefits of vanpooling”. Congratulations Mike!