Robert and Lorraina Meredith are among the approximately 160 passangers who use K&K Connections for their daily commute to northern Virginia.

Think the weekly work-day commute to Richmond is bad?

Try making one to Washington D.C.

While not a common scenario, some residents across the region brave traffic snarls and no less than three-hour round trips each day.

A solution, however, has been found.

Chester residents Pamela and Keith Trent, Sr. have started their own company, K&K Connections, LLC, offering a vanpool commuter service from Chester to Washington D.C.

“I used to ride a van for VPSI [local vanpool service] for a year and wasn’t completely happy with it,” says Keith Trent. “I was spending money for the vanpool, but then had to pay again if I had to leave early and take a different van. I want to give people more options and choices for one flat rate.”

Starting in June 2005, Trent launched the vanpool service with one van and a route from Chester to Washington D.C. Now, serving approximately 160 customers, he and his wife have 16 vans running routes from Chester, Richmond, Hopewell, Mechanicsville, and Ladysmith to northern Virginia and Washington D.C. They also hope to add at least two more routes in the near future: one from the Beaufont Shopping Center near Cloverleaf Mall to D.C. and one from Richmond to Quantico.

“We aren’t entirely sure when we will be opening those routes,” says Trent. “Right now, we are just hoping to get enough people; the magic number is seven. Once we get seven people, we will get a van and go.”

Chesterfield resident Tracey Dunn initially requested a route from Cloverleaf, serving as a coordinator to help establish that route. Employed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington D.C. and a vanpool rider since March, she began looking at a route there to help bring the service closer to Chesterfield residents.

“Right now, I travel to Henrico every morning just to get on a vanpool, so I wanted something a bit closer. After I made a request to RideFinders, K&K stepped up to the plate and said that they would work on getting another route in Chesterfield,” says Dunn. “I’ve already gotten a few calls from people interested in getting this route.”

In addition to these new routes, Trent hopes to continue to expand the vanpool service area.
“We definitely want to try to do something locally, at least one route from Chesterfield to Richmond. We want to do more and more local vans,” says Trent. “We have a home base now, so we want to come home and be local.”

K&K has recently taken their first steps in this regard with the addition of a local service from Chester to Philip Morris. Started this week, the van leaves from the Bermuda Crossing Ukrop’s Monday through Friday at 7:30 a.m., delivering passengers to the West Mark One entrance of Altria (Phillip Morris) by 8:15 a.m.; vans depart in the evening at 5 p.m. At the moment, 12 riders have already signed up for this local service, which will most likely cost around $100 per month.

“We are very excited to provide this service. We’ve been working for awhile to try to get some local service, so it is great to have this first step,” says Onika Williams, employee of K&K Connections.

Even as they expand, the Trents still have their eyes on K&K Connections’ original focus.
“This is a family atmosphere,” says Trent. “We want our customers to know each other and feel like a family.”

Fares for regular weekly riders to northern Virginia and Washington D.C. are approximately $245 per month, depending on gas prices. Occasional riders can purchase a one-way ticket for $15 or round-trip ticket for $30. For more information about K&K Connections van pool service or their route schedules, visit their website at www.ridek2k.com or call them at 1-877-RIDEK2K (743-3525).

nderatto@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421

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