UTICA - As gas continues to rise locally, above the national average, one local company and its employees are finding ways to save money while still being able to drive to work.  With 340 employees, the general manager of APAC Customer Services says, they hire from all over central new york.  Because of that, and because gas prices are still over $4 per gallon, many employees have "carpooling" down to a science.

Rachel Jodway works at APAC and has started carpooling. "Right now we do, I pick him up in the morning and I usually bring her home on Saturday, occasionally I will end up picking her up Saturday mornings," Jodway said.

Jodway's coworker, Jennifer Andrews has also jumped on the carpool bandwagon.  "I live in Herkimer, and she will pick me up just to save the gas," Andrews said.  "I do drive sometimes, but sometimes it is just easier to carpool just because the gas is so high lately so carpooling just makes sense."

So much sense, that APAC is adapting to help them save where they can.  APAC General Manager Brian Reed says that inside the break room at APAC there is a board where employees can see when and where other workers are coming from. "If you got several coming from Little falls or Oriskany or wherever it might be, we try to get them to match up so they can carpool then share the expense as apposed to everyone driving on their own," Reed said.

And according to Reed, APAC is even going a step further.  The company is considering shifting schedules to help those who travel the farthest distances. " Were looking at four by ten schedules and some flex schedules to allow folks to, with the four by ten still meet our clients needs but then have one less day of travel they have to come in on," Reed said.

According to Triple - A, the average price of a gallon of gas in the Mohawk Valley today, is $4.21.  That is 13 cents higher than the national average.