<Audiotape of Diamond Awards event (by TVW)>

(Written notes, not verbatim) <Download Word version>
I have a dual role since the Puget Sound Regional Council is receiving an award today. Since I am new enough not to be able to take any credit, I simply congratulate our amazing staff.

Let's confess right now that part of the reason for our successful commuting program is that the Puget Sound Regional Council and its staff have a tiny bit of interest in the topic of transportation! Not to mention growth management planning, research and forecasting for King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties. We are working to make long range plans happen and are starting at the ground level, with our own daily choices.

I find the theme of the Diamond Awards campaign, "Leaders see solutions where others see only problems," to be very fitting in today's political climate and in the planning of our region's future. Talking is important, negotiating is important, making sure everyone is heard is necessary. Flawless planning and research are vital; gathering stakeholders around the same regional table is invaluable. But it takes leadership to envision solutions that work and to implement them.

In the middle of all the meetings and committees working day after day on the challenges of making transportation work better in our metropolitan region…. Represented in our midst today are efforts that have already made a difference. These are efforts inspired by vision, and supported with long-term commitments that required investment of time and money. And do you know why? Let me add a couple words to the theme of this campaign, with apologies to your marketing consultant, "Leaders See Solutions…That Work!"

Don't misunderstand me. The transportation challenges faced by our region require multi-faceted approaches and major investments beyond the smart management of employee commute trips. In our region's struggle to finance our needs and our difficulty deciding which problems to fix first, let's not forget to celebrate the things we do right. All of the programs being awarded today are cost-effective solutions that help make our transportation system more efficient.

There are many forces at play that can affect commuting patterns and habits. But after careful research and a long-term look at employment sites that have been working to reduce commute trips since 1993, the Task Force that oversees the implementation of Washington's Commute Trip Reduction Law has concluded that Washington has a success story to tell--and the CTR Program has played a major role in it. Our state has bucked a national trend by slightly decreasing the rate at which people drive alone to work--from 73.9 percent to 73.3. Washington and Oregon are the only states where the percentage of people driving alone to work decreased during the decade. Nationally, drive-alone commuting increased 3.4 percent during the same period.

Here's an even more striking number: The drive-alone rate at worksites in the CTR Program since 1993 decreased even more than the state average. The drive-alone rate at these sites dropped from 69.7 percent in 1993 to 62.8 percent in 2003. That is nearly 10 percent! So, employees commuting to worksites with CTR programs are using commute options at a significantly higher rate than other worksites in the same area.

The recent annual report on the state's CTR Program lists some additional benefits to our region last year:

• 6.2 % less delay than would have been experienced on roadways in the Puget Sound region.
• $24 million savings in reduced delay in the Puget Sound area alone.
  
• $10 million in reduced fuel costs for employees due to fewer trips.
  
• $5.8 million in reduced fuel costs due to less stop and go traffic.
• Reduction of 4,800 tons of pollution.
  
• Reduction of 50,200 tons of carbon dioxide.

The Diamond Award winners from King County are profiled in your packets and we will hear parts of their stories today when the awards are presented. I noticed a theme among the stories. Leaders at worksites that excel at motivating employees to reduce commute trips have identified reasons for doing so that make good business sense for their organization. Those reasons range from increased employee morale and retention, to reduced parking needs, to a stake in improving regional mobility.

• Even more striking to me is how much this illustrates the importance of working with the business community to cultivate transportation solutions.
• What we are starting to do at the PSRC is to make the connection between transportation, land use and economic strategies.
  
• The intersection of these strategies plays out in the business community, which dictates where a business chooses to locate and how people will choose to commute to work.

I know of no higher compliment to the award winners here today: what you are doing is working, not only for you, but for our whole region! Thank you for being real leaders. And thank you to Commuter Challenge, The EDC and their partners for a decade of recognizing, rewarding and fostering true leadership in transportation.

As we all look to the future, my hope is that lessons like these will be incorporated into broader policy decisions and not be lost. I want to recommit my organization, the Puget Sound Regional Council, to the highest standard of public service and leadership. To helping our region's policy makers, municipalities and elected leaders find solutions that work, for business, for our economy, for people.

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