Last year, it was easy to pull up to either of the two state-maintained Park & Ride lots on Broken Land Parkway in Howard County, park, and hop in a carpooling vehicle or commuter bus to work.

“You’re lucky if you find a spot now,” said Allison Routt, a sales associate for General Electric Corp. “This lot used to be a convenient spot for our salespeople going to [Washington] D.C., Baltimore or in between to meet so we could travel together. But the high gas prices have changed that.”

Routt and her co-workers represent the fraction of Maryland commuters who share rides rather than spend up to $100 or more each week filling their tanks for work. 

With fuel costs on the rise, Charles Gischlar, spokesman for Maryland’s State Highway Administration, said that from fall 2007 through this past spring, SHA noted an 8 percent to 10 percent increase among commuters using the lots to either carpool or catch a bus.

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He said the agency stresses ride-sharing not only as means of combining resources, but to eliminate congestion and help the environment.

“We currently have about 4,500 spaces still available across central Maryland and encourage people to at least give ride-sharing a try and see how much they can save,” Gischlar said. “Approximately 7,300 people are already getting together daily at the parking lots we maintain.”

 Ron Dillon Sr., owner of the Hanover-based Dillon’s Bus Service, said the spike in riders has forced him to add five buses to the fleet of 92 that provides service from various points  — including Columbia and Aberdeen — to D.C.

But Dillon said the additional buses are still not enough.

“Just this week, we’ve been having to leave people at the parking lots because we don’t have seats for them.”

drowley@baltimoreexaminer.com