FAQ

Please peruse our Frequently Asked Questions for more information about Gopher's transportation services.

We primarily serve Washington County and 3 towns in Orange County (Orange, Washington, Williamstown).
We may be able to accommodate trips outside of our service area, feel free to reach out.

Monday – Friday 7:00 AM – 6:00 PM. Weekend service, and evening hours coming soon.

Note: We may be able to accommodate trips outside of our main service time

It depends. If you live on or near (within ¾ mile ‘as the crow flies’) a bus route and it’s taking you where you need to go and when you need to get there, we would direct you to use that existing bus.

There are situations, however, where the bus is not going close enough to where you need to go or does not get there in time for your trip purpose. This is when you can reach out and we may be able to accommodate!
If you are unable to go the ¾ mile distance to the bus stop, this next question may help answer that.

This is a great question and often a complicated one to answer. We’re part of a transportation ecosystem. Part of our service is as a Green Mountain Transit subcontractor – this means some of the trips we provide are for GMT customers in one of their existing programs (Non-emergency Medical Transportation/Medicaid, Elderly & Disabled, and Recovery and Job Access). If you are an existing GMT customer, please continue to book your trips through GMT. For more information about GMT’s programs – see here.

If you are denied a trip by GMT (maybe they don’t have capacity or that trip type isn’t covered in that program), reach out to us and we may be able to accommodate!

The Mobility for All (MFA) service provides transportation to people who are currently not being served. If you are not eligible for GMT’s existing programs, don’t live near a bus route (see more notes above), and typically qualify for other government funded programs (such as SNAP), MFA is likely for you. You’ll need to work directly with us to book your trip. Reach out via phone 1-855-467-4375 or email rides@communityridesvt.org

Currently, there are no user fares for MFA trips.
Market rate ($10 booking fee + $2.50/mile when customer is in the vehicle ) is an option for folks who don’t qualify for MFA.

Advance notice always helps! However too much advance notice is difficult with our operations. The sweet spot is 2-7 days’ notice if you can.
You’re always welcome to reach out for last-minute trips: we may be able to accommodate! As we grow, we intend to accommodate more of these ‘last-minute’ or same day trips.

Yes, these are great and help us plan our operations. Generally, what works best is we’ll line up to 1 months’ worth of recurring trips and confirm the trip dates with you.

We hope so, if possible! Sharing trips helps keep the rides affordable for everyone and reduces congestion and pollution. However, if you are not able to share a trip with others, please let us know.

We can accommodate passengers in a wheelchair who can transfer from a wheelchair to a passenger vehicle.
We work with GMT to offer rides to passengers who need a wheelchair lift.

Our phone number is 1-855-467-4375 (toll-free) or 1-855-GOPHER5
Our administrative office is open Monday-Friday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM (unless otherwise posted). We currently do not have a staff person dedicated to our phone line – we apologize in advance if we miss your call. Please leave a voicemail and we’ll return your call as soon as we can.

Soon! We’re working with a software provider to offer this service, but we’re not quite there yet. We hope to have it operational by the end of the year.