FAQ

What areas do you serve?

• Gopher primarily serves 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 to us

When do you provide rides?

• Monday – Friday 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM*
  *We may be able to accommodate trips outside of our main service time

Where are you based?

• Our current operation is based out of Barre, Vermont

How much does your service cost to use?

• For our subsidized market rate or full market rate programs, please contact us at 1-855-467-4375 for a personalized quote
• Rides are calculated at a variable rate meaning the price could decrease from our initial quote if we are able to pair up trips with other passengers or optimize it around other in the area
• We will confirm your ride details, including exact price, with you the afternoon before your ride
• The initial quote we give you is the most the ride will cost

How do I pay for my ride(s)?

• The driver can take credit and debit cards or a personal check in the vehicle
• Accounts: If you plan to set up recurring rides and don’t want multiple transactions per day or week, we can set up an account through our payment processor, Square. We can load up your account on a weekly or monthly basis. Once a trip is completed it will be processed through your account
• We are able to take cash from our office which is located at the Capstone building at 20 Gable Pl, Barre. Please let us know ahead of time if you will need to make a cash transaction as we want to ensure someone is in the office to assist you when you arrive

How far in-advance should I book my trip(s)?

• Advance notice always helps! However, too much advance notice is difficult with where we’re at in our operations. The sweet spot is 2-7 days’ notice if you can
• You’re always welcome to reach out for same-day, last-minute trips: we may be able to accommodate

For rides I’m scheduling in the future: When do I know if my ride is confirmed?

• When pre-scheduling rides with us, we will confirm with you the day before your ride between 4:00-6:00 PM

Can I book recurring 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 with you.
• Please note that setting up recurring rides does not guarantee that they can all be provided as requested. Trip details will be confirmed with you the day before each ride. We do our best to notify you with as much advance notice as possible if/when we’re unable to fulfill a trip request

What’s your cancellation policy?

• Cancellations must be made at least two hours prior to the scheduled pick-up time. Rides cancelled less than two hours prior to pick-up are a late cancellation and are treated as a no-show. Any late cancellation/no-show is subject to our booking (administrative) fee
• The booking fee depends on how far our vehicles would travel to pick you up. For example, local trips are subject to a $10 booking fee, and very long-distance trips are subject to a $25 booking fee
• The no-show/cancellation fee must be paid before being able to book other trips with us

What does it mean if I No-Show?

• Please refer to our Rider Policies document

Will I be sharing my ride with someone else?

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

How do I know if I book my trip through Gopher directly or go through my current transportation service provider (such as Green Mountain Transit)?

• We’re part of a transportation ecosystem. Part of our service is as a Green Mountain Transit (GMT) subcontractor – this means some of the trips we provide are for GMT customers in one of their existing programs (Non-emergency Medical Transportation/Medicaid, Older Adults & People with Disabilities and Recovery and Job Access). If you are an existing GMT customer, 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 by their program), reach out to us and we may be able to accommodate

Does your service accommodate wheelchairs?

• 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

How can I speak with a person directly about my trip or get more information about your service?

• Our phone number is 1-855-467-4375 or 1-855-GOPHER5 (toll-free)
• Our administrative office is open Monday-Friday 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM (unless otherwise posted). We are a small company and may be busy on the phone with another person or not initially available at the time of your call. We apologize if we missed your call. Please leave a voicemail and we’ll return your call as soon as we can
  *Please note that we prioritize phone calls for passengers we are serving that day. For inquiries, it may take 1-2 business days for us to return your call

Is there a way I can book my trip through an app/online?

• Unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet. We can receive text messages at our phone number 1-855-467-4375. We will text you back as soon as we can during our open office hours.

What other rider policies should I be aware of?

• Thanks for asking. We have a Rider Policies page – see here

Do you operate when there’s bad weather?

• It depends. To help determine if it’s safe to continue or reduce operations, we take into consideration what our partners at Green Mountain Transit are doing as well as the local schools. Our business is based on the safety of our drivers, passengers and vehicles. All of our vehicles are all-wheel drive and are equipped with studded winter tires in the winter. During mud season, when certain roads are impassable, we may not be able to safely accommodate certain pick-up locations until road conditions improve. We may be able to meet you at another location if necessary

What age can somebody ride without an adult present?

• Riders aged 10 and above can ride without an adult present if we have a parental/guardian consent form on file

Do you supply car seats or do I need to have my own provided?

• Riders must supply and install their own child restraining system and secure the child passenger in the child restraining system. Currently, Gopher is not able to provide car seats

Can my animal ride with me?

• Except for service animals, you must keep your pet in a carrier at all times. If your pet is too large to fit in a carrier, we do have a vehicle we can set-up with a barrier where your pet can sit in our vehicle’s trunk

If I have an allergy, should I let you know?

• This is likely helpful information for us to have – if you have a severe allergy to something that might be in a vehicle (such as pet or perfume), let us know. We often optimize trips and combine rides so we’d want to make sure we don’t book a ride between you and someone who might be traveling with something (like a pet) which might give you an allergic reaction

Other questions?

• Please reach out via phone 1-855-467-4375 or email rides@gophervt.org