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The Metropolitan King County Council today unanimously approved sending more than two dozen King County “retirees” to second careers of helping transport county residents. The Council adopted a motion donating 27 retired Metro Vanpool vans to provide transportation assistance to local governments, community programs, senior citizens and young people.

“Since 1976, the Greater Maple Valley Community Center has provided important services to the citizens in and around Maple Valley,” said Councilmember Reagan Dunn. “I am proud to be able to assist this worthy organization with this van that will help them better serve our community.”

“The Greater Maple Valley Community Center would like to extend our sincere gratitude for your efforts in securing a retired 11 passenger van for our Youth Program,” said Allison Scott, Senior Program Director. “This larger vehicle will allow our staff to transport more teens to prevention programs, teen trips and other outreach events. Our status as a 501(c)(3) places us in a position to depend on wonderful programs such as this and continued support of representatives such as you in helping us to meet the needs of our community. Thank you Mr. Dunn for your continued support.”

The retired vans have been part of Metro Transit’s vanpool fleet for at least six years and have reached the end of their service life. When the vans reach this age, they are considered surplus. The vehicles that are not donated are sold.

Since 1995, the County Council has been donating retired vans from Metro’s Vanpool program to local nonprofit organizations to provide transportation for the disabled, low-income, young adults, and senior citizens. Governments, agencies and organizations that receive the vans must meet specific requirements:

• Capacity to support ongoing van operation, including assured funding for licensing, insuring, fueling and maintaining the van;
• Ability to provide qualified and trained drivers;
• Specific plans for use of the van to transport low-income, elderly or young people or people with disabilities, and assurance that the use shall be available to those persons without regard to affiliation with any particular organization;
• Ability to support county's public transportation function by reducing single occupancy vehicle trips, pollution and traffic congestion; supplementing services provided by the county's paratransit system and increasing the mobility for the transit-dependent for whom regular transit might not always be a convenient option.

The vanpool program provides mobility for a diverse array of King County residents, supports the positive work of various local organizations, and relieves traffic congestion by reducing the need for single-occupancy vehicles. Interested organizations can contact Councilmember Dunn for more information on applying for a vehicle.