First Rideshare numbers roll in
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
After its first four months of operation, Wood River
Rideshare’s preliminary participation and budget numbers are rolling in,
and organizer Beth Callister is cautiously optimistic about them.
Rideshare was launched Nov. 6 with enough funding for four
months. Last week, and this week, with promising ridership numbers in
hand, Callister has been working to secure continued funding commitments
from local cities and the county.
Since Nov. 6, she said Monday, she has had 101 inquiries
from people interested in participating in carpooling, 76 of whom have
registered in the program’s ride-matching database. She is currently
conducting a telephone survey to determine how many of those are actually
ride-sharing. The survey is not complete, but she said she knows through
word-of-mouth that at least 28 people have begun carpooling through the
program.
Four months ago, "I didn’t know what to
expect," she said, but "I think those are good numbers."
Callister added that a typical goal for ride-sharing
programs is 10 percent of the commuting traffic, which between Hailey and
Ketchum each day totals about 2,000 employees. Eventually, Callister would
like to see between 100 and 200 of those people ride-sharing.
What’s the cost of all this? About $55,000 a year,
Callister estimates, mostly to cover marketing, office expenses and her
own paycheck.
On Monday, the Blaine County Board of Commissioners agreed
unanimously to earmark $5,000 of the county’s budget to the program and
to begin looking for ways to budget another $7,000.
That action came after a meeting Thursday during which
Callister garnered $13,000 from the city of Sun Valley on the condition
that the county taxpayers also ante up.
"They were pretty adamant," Callister said of
the Sun Valley council. "If they’re going to contribute money, they
want to see the county contribute too."
Another $13,000 has previously come from the state-run
Rideshare program, and Callister said she plans to ask the Ketchum City
Council for $2,400 on Feb. 5 to bring that city’s total contribution up
to $13,000.
Last summer, Callister said, Ketchum contributed an
initial $10,600 and the county contributed $1,000.
