Terms and Conditions
Communications
Vanpool passengers are responsible for notifying the Connect Douglas office of any change in their ridership status. Please contact the Connect Douglas office if you are going to discontinue riding, are changing to Half Fare or Full Fare or are having trouble getting your subsidy/voucher/check from your employer. Failure on your part to communicate with the Connect Douglas office can result in your termination from the program.
Payment
You are required to purchase a monthly/half fare vanpool boarding pass before the first working day of the month. Do not ride the van until you have a Boarding Pass.
On the sixth of the month if you have not purchased a boarding pass, you will be considered to be n longer a part of the vanpool program and will be placed inactive. At this point, your seat may be sold to another rider. To continue riding, the seat must still be available and you must pay the full month's van fare and a $15 reinstatement fee.
Fare Definitions
All Connect Douglas fares are due in full by the first day of the month. Riders must purchase either a full fare pass or day fare pass if they intend to ride any Connect Douglas van. No one may board a Connect Douglas van without first purchasing a boarding pass.
Full Fare: Fare is paid in advance to reserve your seat for the entire month, regardless of how many days you ride or how many days the vanpool operates.
Half Fare: Only for riders whose immediate family members ride and pay a full fare.
Senior Discounts: Anyone age 60 and over can take a 5% discount from their full monthly fare. The Connect Douglas office will require a copy of your current driver license in order for you to be approved for this fare reduction.
Combo Riders: A rider who rides one van in the mornings and another van in the afternoons is considered a combo rider and is not guaranteed a seat on both vans unless they are paying for both seats. Combo riders pay the monthly fare of their morning van. When a van is full and a new rider wants to join one of the vans that a combo rider is riding, the combo rider will be given the choice of either riding one van only or purchasing a seat on both vans at the full fare price.
Subsidies: Some employers pay all or a portion of a rider's monthly fare. If an employer discontinues the subsidy, the rider is responsible for paying the full monthly fare. For example, your Full Fare is $100, but your company pays a $20 subsidy means you pay $80 out of pocket for your Full Fare. If the subsidy is discontinued you will be responsible for the full fare amount of the $100.
Credits/Refunds
Connect Douglas offers a $20 credit to riders when a van doesn't operate six days out of the month, minus holidays. If a van doesn't operated more than six days riders may be eligible for a credit of more than $20, based on review by Connect Douglas Staff.
Back up drivers can deduct $4 a day for round trip, $2 for one way.
Upon written request and return of a Boarding Pass, Connect Douglas will issue prorated refunds. Be advised that refunds may take as long as three weeks to process. Connect Douglas will refund Boarding Passes, provided the Use Date has not expired. For example, if a passenger requests a refund for a March monthly boarding pass on March 15, Connect Douglas will issue a refund for March 15 - 31 and not March 1 - 14. Similarly, a refund will not be issued for a November boarding pass if the passenger waits until December to request the refund, even if they did not ride at all during November. The policy is similar for Daily Boarding Passes. For example, a passenger will not be issued a refund if the request is made March 15 for a Daily Boarding Pass that should have been used March 14. If you use payroll deduction and your agency sends in payment for your boarding pass, any refund will go back to the agency who actually sent in payment and you will need to make sure before setting up payroll deduction that they are able to refund the monies due back to you.