To the editor:

Your Jan. 18 article on the state’s elimination of the van-pool program was disappointing. The title of the article, “State to stop providing workers with rides to Topeka'” is quite misleading. While the state purchased the vans and has paid the ongoing expenses as part of its central motor pool, van-pool participants reimburse the state such that its costs are fully recovered over the life of the vehicle. Thus, this popular program of more than 20 years costs Kansas residents nothing while reducing traffic, pollution, etc. It is a model the state and other employers should seek to expand, not cut.

Of course, the van-pool program would not be phased out were it not for the elimination of the state’s central motor pool. The Journal-World, among others, claimed credit for breaking the story about all the “excess” vehicles in a parking lot in Topeka which led to the political pressure to eliminate the motor pool. Here again, however, inadequate reporting did not discover much of the reason for the temporary surplus — a change in the retirement mileage for state vehicles from 90,000 to 95,000 — after the vehicles had been ordered.

David Barfield,

Lawrence