Vanpool partnership saves teachers plenty of gas every school year, helps build friendship bonds as well

Five teachers carpool together to Three Rivers School in Sunriver daily, as part of Cascade East Transit's and Commute Options' vanpool program. For the past year, teacher Honza Vrbata has been picking up and dropping off four fellow teachers every day.

"It's really fun to commute with coworkers, because we can, you know -- we share stories, we laugh together, we sometimes (share) challenges. We try to help each other just share and listen to each other," Vrbata said.

The program is part of Oregon's transportation improvement fund and pays for the teachers' transportation. On average, they're saving about 32,000 miles a school year.