“With the cost of gas, not doing it is like throwing money out the window,” she said.

Selinsgrove Borough Council President Carol Handlan is also a firm believer in carpooling.

Handlan travels to Harrisburg, where she is an assistant vice president at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.

She makes the trek daily from her Pine Street home with Maressa Duncan, of Danville, and Ruth Brouse, of Dewart. All three work in the same building.

They leave for Harrisburg at 6:30 a.m., and whoever isn’t driving parks in the garage behind Handlan’s home.

Handlan began carpooling at the end of last year as the price of gas began to take a bigger bite from her paycheck, she said. When she was driving alone, she had to fill her Toyota twice a week with gas. At first, she traveled just with Brouse. Duncan has only recently joined the carpool.

“I was out somewhere and recognized her as someone who worked in my building, and we talked,” Handlan said. “One thing led to another.”

The three take turns driving.

“It really breaks up the week,” she said of their arrangement. “You only drive every third day.”

Handlan adjusted her work schedule, with the approval of her managers, so she could carpool.

“It’s working out well. We’re really flexible with each other. If one of us has a meeting, the others don’t mind waiting a half hour or so.”

“There are significant savings,” she said. “The cost of driving is staggering.”

Anticipating the question, Handlan said she calculated her savings at $276 a month.

“Instead of driving 20 days a month, I’m driving seven,” she reasoned.

Plenty of other people are carpooling from the Valley to work. Several unofficial parking areas south of Selinsgrove along old Routes 11-15 are filled every morning. A park-and-ride lot at the junction of Route 104 and Routes 11-15 near Liverpool is filled by 6 a.m., and a similar lot at the Turbotville exit of Interstate 180 is also nearly full every day.