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Category: Non-motorized Eddie
Bauer, Inc.,
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Non-motorized
commute modes integral to Eddie Bauer's CTR program
Eddie Bauer, Inc. has been offering distinctive clothing
and accessories to its customers since the company opened
its doors for the first time in 1920. Eddie Bauer has
taken care of its customers and earned a strong
reputation for the personal attention shown in its stores
over the past 80 years. This year Eddie Bauer's Redmond
corporate office receives the Diamond Award for its
encouragement and support of bicycle commuting.
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Jan. 18, 2001 Awards
Ceremony Sharon O'Shea and Calvin Reeder accept Eddie Bauer's Diamond Award for non-motorized commuting. |
Eddie Bauer's Redmond office offers employees a diverse commute reduction program. Incentive and supportive measures range from transit subsidies and shower facilities to dry-cleaning pickup and on-site haircuts, all designed to alleviate the need for employees to use their personal cars.
Big promotion of
bicycle commuting
Promotion programs, contests, and incentives can
create interest in participating in an alternate commute
mode amongst employees. Eddie Bauer actively participates
in the annual Bike-to-Work day. Each year about 100
employee bicyclists take part, and rewards are offered
for various accomplishments. Bike riders are provided a
free breakfast buffet after the ride and a full day of
registration precedes the event, in which local bike
shops offer discounts on gear and services, energy bars,
and bottled water to encourage bicyclists to participate.
Approximately 20 Eddie Bauer employees regularly commute
to work via bicycle in the summer.
One Eddie Bauer employee rides his bicycle to work every other day from the Wedgewood neighborhood in Seattle, a total distance of over 25 miles each way. “I ride my bike to avoid traffic and get a workout at the same,” Eddie Bauer's Chandler Leach said. On Monday mornings he drives his car into work, leaves it in the Eddie Bauer parking lot, and that evening rides his bicycle home. Throughout the rest of the week he rotates between driving in the morning and bicycling in the evening, to bicycling in the morning and driving in the evening depending on whether or not he drove to or from work the previous day. On Fridays Leach rides his bicycle both to and from work, a roundtrip total of over 50 miles and just under three hours.
“We usually have a number of employees who, as a result of the Bike-to-Work event, decide that they can bicycle to work most days during the summer months,” Employee Transportation Coordinator Sharon O'Shea said.
On-site services
eliminate the need for cars
Commute support services provided by the company
are a major component of its commute reduction program.
Employees can make use of on-site services including dry
cleaning pickup, film development, haircuts, flu shots,
stamp purchasing and others. Shower facilities also are
offered, in addition to lockers, bike racks, preferential
carpool and vanpool parking, and ridematching services.
Employees can also make use of the Guaranteed Ride Home
program in case of emergency or illness.
Eddie Bauer also offers extensive transit subsidies for its Redmond corporate office employees. Each employee is eligible for a corporate contribution of 50% of the cost of a bus pass or vanpool program, no matter what the employee's origin.
The Eddie Bauer Redmond corporate office has plans to expand its telework program in the near future. The company is working to establish a flexible spending account program that will enable employees to use pre-tax funds for the purchase of bus passes and vanpool services.
Commuting
program
Results 60 people ride the bus to work, 5 ride bicycles, 31 vanpool, 55 carpool, 20 telework, 58 work compressed workweeks, and 5 walk |
*Some definitions: An “ETC” is the staff-level employee transportation coordinator responsible for the daily administration of the transportation program; “PM” is the transportation program manager; and “CEO” refers to the top management-level person at the worksite. “SOV” stands for single-occupant vehicle, and “CTR” for commute trip reduction.