Van pools and employer-paid pools operate elsewhere in the state. Vanpool Hawaii has about 160 vans in operation, including 25 making the daily 200-mile roundtrip between Hilo and Waikoloa on the Big Island. Some are true van pools in which the driver is supplied with the van and recruits riders to fill it. Considering that all forms of surface transportation are subsidized one way or another, Harris said van pooling is the absolute cheapest way to get cars off the road. In Hawaii, there are smoking vans and nonsmoking, talking vans and nontalking.
Some groups get so friendly that they socialize together.
Some combine taking workers to jobs with delivering children to schools or day-care. Van pools are cheap, compared with big buses, light or heavy rail or monorails, because they don't require a big investment. And because they don't have to pay a driver. Vanpool, a national business, has contracted with the Department of Transportation to encourage and provide vans. The driver rides free.