Three regional transportation and business agencies in northern Virginia joined the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) Oct. 3 to launch the Vanpool Alliance, an effort designed to bring additional federal funding to a heavily populated part of the state.

The Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission in Woodbridge will administer the program. Other members of the public-private partnership are the George Washington Regional Commission in Fredericksburg and Northern Virginia Transportation Commission in Arlington.

Participating vanpool operators will compile data about their vehicles, ridership, trip-making patterns, and related information for inclusion in the FTA National Transit Database. FTA uses the database to distribute federal funds, so the submission of these data is expected to generate additional federal funding for the region.

DRPT Director Thelma Drake said: “Already one of the largest vanpool markets in the nation, this program promises to induce even greater vanpool usage and, by simply collecting data about those commutes and submitting it to the Federal Transit Administration, we will be able to bring more federal dollars to our area—federal dollars that can be used to make additional regional transportation investments.” The department is acting on behalf of the commonwealth of Virginia in supporting the effort.

The program received most of its startup funding from the state on the recommendation of DRPT. Virginia provided a grant of more than $3 million to start the program because of the minimum two-year lag time between data submission and the awarding of federal funds.

The collection of vanpool data will begin in November 2013. Vanpool operators will receive a small stipend to compensate them for their time and effort collecting the data.