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Marty Steele

Vanpooler December 2015
Employer: Spokane VA Medical Center

Human Resource Specialists, Spokane VA Medical Center

With a 20 mile one way commute from Cheney, Marty realized how much money he was spending on his commute and began looking at his options. He initially began carpooling until they had enough riders to form a vanpool. His van has now been on the road for over 2 years and carries seven other VA employees.

Marty is the primary driver for the van and only misses riding 3-4 days per month. He vanpools because it saves him a great deal of money each month and it is convenient. Although he loses 30 minutes of his day driving to and from the pickup point, he believes the overall commute is shorter when you have people to socialize with. He says they have a great group of employees that ride the van together. They truly enjoy each other’s company and can cheer anyone up who’s had a bad day. He even assists his fellow riders with logging their trips on the MyCommute.org tracking calendar.

Because Marty works in the HR department, he’s able to talk to new employee at the new hire orientations about what commute options are available to them as VA employees and how much money they can save by using commute alternatives.

ETC, Megan Keller states “Marty has such a positive attitude and a big heart and has obviously made a difference to his fellow commuters. He goes above and beyond what is required to help make vanpooling possible for others as well.”

Way to Go Marty!