Washington, D.C. – At today’s Transportation Planning Board meeting, COG staff reported that Commuter Connections’ Guaranteed Ride Home program will expand to include the Baltimore metropolitan region and St. Mary’s County, Maryland.  This significant expansion comes at the request of the Maryland Department of Transportation, which will provide additional funding to Commuter Connections starting on July 1, 2010. 

Guaranteed Ride Home is a service offered by Commuter Connections that provides people who regularly commute by carpool, vanpool, bike or transit with a free ride home in the event of an emergency.  According to Commuter Connections, one of the main reasons people do not take transit or join carpools is because of concerns about getting home when family members get sick or other personal emergencies occur.  Guaranteed Ride Home eliminates that barrier by offering commuters a free and reliable ride, up to four times per year, to get home early for these unexpected emergencies or to get home late because of unscheduled overtime. 

“This expansion means that area residents who work in the Baltimore region and St. Mary’s County—as well as thousands of the new workers headed to Fort Meade because of the BRAC base realignment process—will be eligible to enroll in our service,” said Nicholas Ramfos, Director of Commuter Connections.  “Guaranteed Ride Home will be a great way to encourage these commuters to join carpools and do their part to clean the air and reduce traffic congestion in both the Washington and Baltimore regions.”

Commuter Connections first launched Guaranteed Ride Home in 1997.  Currently, Guaranteed Ride Home is offered to area residents who work in the following jurisdictions as well as the cities surrounded by these counties:

• District of Columbia
• Calvert (MD)
• Charles (MD)
• Frederick (MD)
• Montgomery (MD)
• Prince George’s (MD)
• Arlington (VA)
• Fairfax (VA)
• Loudoun (VA)
• Prince William (VA) 

To learn more about program eligibility, to read testimonials by customers, and for a map of the current service area, click here.