Transportation and Parking Services, or TAPS, announced the launch of a Solano County vanpool on July 1, while UC Davis employees coming from Placer County are invited to book full-time or casual space on a vanpool coming from their direction.

The Solano One to Davis vanpool is starting with 10 riders, and room for two more, said Mary Maffly, transportation demand and marketing coordinator for TAPS.

The Solano van is for people who work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost ranges from $115 to $125 per month, including van lease, parking and gas.

The van’s first pickup is scheduled from 6:50 to 7 a.m. at the Solano Mall (near the Sears auto shop). The van then makes a stop in the Kmart store parking lot (North Texas Street at Atlantic Avenue).

The van is due to arrive on campus by 7:30 a.m. and the university’s office building on Chiles Road by 8 a.m.

The Placer County I-80-Eight van, with space available, is for people whose work hours are 7:30-8 a.m. to 4:30-5 p.m. The morning run starts at the Newcastle park-and-ride lot (south side of Interstate 80 at Newcastle Road) at about 6:10 a.m., then makes a stop at the Roseville park-and-ride lot (Taylor Road near Eureka Road) at about 6:25 a.m.

The first stop in Davis is Reprographics (in the Chiles Road building), followed by multiple stops on campus, as far west as the School of Veterinary Medicine.

People start boarding for the ride home at 4:30 p.m., with arrival time in Roseville between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m., before heading to Newcastle. Some people then continue on in their own vehicles to Meadow Vista and Grass Valley.

Interested people are invited to take a ride for free to test the arrangements.

The cost is $87.70 per month for full-time riders and $8 a day for casual riders. Both fees include parking and gas.

Full-time riders receive two complimentary parking permits per month, for the days when these riders are unable to vanpool, and are eligible for the Emergency Ride Home Program. Fulltime riders also can enroll for pretax payroll deduction benefits.

With the new Solano County van, plus the Placer County van and one from El Cerrito, there will be three vanpools running to and from UC Davis.

For more information on vanpooling, contact Maffly at TAPS, (530) 752-6453 or mlmaffly@ucdavis.edu. Or check out the TAPS Web site: taps.ucdavis.edu (click on “Commuter Services”).