A vanpool is a kind of transit that is used by a group of people ranging from five to fifteen in number, to travel collectively in that van. Generally they are used by travelers group who are traveling to work together in a van relatively than in separate cars. These services are similar to carpooling services except one thing in which individuals travel together in a car to work but here they can carry more people in different ways. This method of traveling is proving day by day to be highly efficient and environmental friendly since it is cheap to move from one place to another with this and are becoming much popular in the urban areas.

They are often organized by a bunch of travelers who either purchase or take the van on lease. They then keep turns in driving the van and handling the maintenance of the van. There are some other van hiring services wherein they use the public or private vans and the travelers sign up for a van hiring program and meet the van in a public area which is centrally located along with other riders. If the van users are more in number, then the fees for using the van hiring services will also keep on decreasing and helps in giving the travelers an incentive to hire more people in the neighborhood so that the costs can be kept down always. There are some employers who subsidize or provide the expense of van hiring services for their own employees. Along with this, the employers can also enhance the facilities inside the van by providing internet services so that the employees can work while they are coming to the office.

This service is also gaining subsidies from the government since they also believe the hiring and using the van services will effectively reduce congestion and other form of public transport congestion. They also view it as beneficial in increasing the security by group of people using a single vehicle leading to lower gas emissions. The basic advantage of this service is that it is better than a bus since it drops the employees or people right near the doors of their home or working office. It hence, provides them a much comfortable ride in comparison with public buses. These van services are also available at odd hours like very early in the morning when the buses are not operating. The expenses of hiring a van differs in one form or the other depending upon the number of people riding in the van and the service of the van but it is also seen that it can be comparison with the services offered by a bus, the van services are provided at subsidized rates by the public transport agencies or companies and the government.

Vanpool services are widely famous in urban areas and are available in the area of search over the internet. If these services are not available in a particular location then the travelers can themselves start this facility.