GOTRIANGLE PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES FOR EMERGENCY RIDE HOME PROGRAM
Guidelines are subject to change without notice. Call 919-485-7433 or visit gotriangle.org/erh for current Participation Guidelines.
1. Commuters must be officially registered with Share the Ride NC www.sharetheridenc.org before using the Emergency Ride Home (ERH) service. To register, commuters must provide their full name, phone numbers (home/cell or work), work email address, employer, and work schedule. Registered commuters must be carpooling, vanpooling, taking transit, bicycling, or walking to their site of employment on the day they use the ERH service. ERH is only available to people commuting from work to home. ERH is unavailable to students. Commuters are limited to one account in ShareTheRideNC for usage of the Emergency Ride Home program.
At any time, if a commuter is unable to verify their employment, the registration may be denied or the commuter can be terminated from the program. GoTriangle has the right to request verification of a commuter’s alternative mode use.
2. Registered commuters may use the ERH program two (2) times in a 30-day period and up to six (6) times annually. To be eligible for all six (6) trips, a commuter must work for a registered employer. Employer registration is free and a list of current employers can be found: gotriangle.org/erh. Commuters from employers not enrolled in the ERH program receive one (1) trip per year.
3. To use GoTriangle’s ERH program, a commuter must live or work in the following counties: Durham, Orange, or Wake.
4. To maintain their ERH membership, commuters must review their account annually by logging in to their account at www.sharetheridenc.org or contact GoTriangle to verify their registration information. During this process, users may be required to complete a survey.
5. The ERH program may only be used in cases of an unexpected personal or family emergency, an unexpected illness, or unscheduled overtime. Cases in which the ERH program cannot be used include, but are not limited to the following: previously scheduled medical appointments, trips to the hospital or emergency room for a commuter that needs medical attention, personal errands, business-related travel, transit service disruptions and/or delays, business-related travel, inclement weather, weather emergencies, any type of building closings or evacuations, and natural disasters. ERH commuters are allowed to pick up their child/children or make one stop at a pharmacy to pick up medication if the stop is along the commuters route home from their work address.
6. Requests to use the ERH program because of unscheduled overtime must be made before the commuter’s work end time.
7. Telephone service for ERH is available 7:00am - 10:00pm (Monday – Friday) 8:00am – 8:00pm (Saturday), and 8:00am – 5:00pm (Sunday & Holidays). ERH trips may be unavailable if trip approval or assistance is required during designated program holidays. Designated program holidays include December 25.
8. All ERH trips must originate from the commuter’s work location. Depending on the nature of the emergency, and home and work locations, a commuter using the ERH service will be required to use an approved taxi vendor to reach their destination point. Commuters may only use taxi providers approved and dispatched by GoTriangle. GoTriangle will not reimburse taxi trips obtained through non-approved taxi providers. A list of approved taxi providers may be provided at the time of the ERH request.
9. GoTriangle will pay for one vendor service per request. If the ERH trip uses a taxi, GoTriangle will pay for all charges, excluding gratuity, to the destination. The commuter is responsible only for tipping the taxi driver. Cancellation on the part of the commuter of an ERH trip may count as one of the six (6) annual trips.
10. Some ERH taxi providers may be equipped to provide wheelchair accessible transportation as part of the ERH service as needed. It is the commuter’s responsibility to request a taxi that can provide a wheelchair accessible vehicle.
Some ERH taxi providers may be equipped to transport bicycles as part of the ERH service as needed. It is the commuter’s responsibility to request a taxi that can provide bicycle transportation.
11. If you falsify information, use ERH for a non-qualifying trip or abuse the program in any other way, you will be prohibited from using the program and your employer will be notified. Abuse of the program may result in legal action to recoup fraudulent expenses.
12. ERH is a free service provided by GoTriangle. We will use our best efforts to provide the Emergency Ride Home in accordance with the guidelines shown above. By requesting service or assistance from the Emergency Ride Home program, the participant in the program explicitly acknowledges that GoTriangle assumes no liability for the timeliness of the ERH participating vendor(s) or any accidents that may occur on the conveyance.
UPDATE CONCERNING CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)
It’s the highest priority for the Emergency Ride Home (ERH) program to get our smart commuters home in case of an emergency. Many organizations are encouraging teleworking, but there’s a significant number of transit riders, carpoolers, vanpoolers and active commuters who need to commute to work daily. For those commuters, should they have an emergency like sudden personal or family illness, ERH provides a trip home from work. Our taxi provider is taking precautions including disinfecting vehicles after each trip.