Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer delivers the keys to a surplus Metro Transit Vanpool van to Valley Cities CEO Faith Richie (l) and Development Director Pegi Moll

Metropolitan King County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer delivered a “retired” eight-passenger Metro Transit Vanpool van to Valley Cities Counseling & Consultation in Auburn.

“Valley Cities Counseling can now offer additional transportation options as they expand their services,” said von Reichbauer, after presenting the keys to Valley Cities CEO Faith Richie. “They must be able to reach their clients!”

Since 1996, the King County Council has distributed over 250 retired vans to various non-profit organizations for the purposes of serving the transportation needs of low-income, elderly and young county residents. After 8 years in the King County Fleet Division, the vans are retired and prepared for donation.

In 1995, Councilmember von Reichbauer began the program after noticing a substantial number of King County vans sitting idle—as much as 30 percent of the total 741 vehicle fleet. He found out that due to an inefficient bulk purchasing policy, the County was housing over $3.8 million worth of excess, unused vehicles.

As chair of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, von Reichbauer responded by proposing a more cost-effective method of procuring smaller shipments of vans as needed and extending the retirement age of the vehicles from five to eight years. He also proposed that a portion of the significant cost savings reaped by the new policies go towards a program that would donate the retired vans to local non-profits throughout the region.

The county van pool program began in 1996 as a pilot project and has become extremely popular with human service agencies throughout King County.