Commuter Challenge,
in partnership with federal, state and local governments, has awarded
a second round of grants to 27 King County employers totalling over $437,000
to implement or enhance commute trip reduction projects in an effort to
reduce thousands of commute trips each month. Local employers eligible
for the grants are those affected by the state Commute Trip Reduction
Law and other work sites that voluntarily comply with the law.
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Employer:
City of Seattle “In the three months the program has been up and running we have had a great response from employees.” —Donald
Loseff |
Company
mission:
The City of Seattle’s Seattle Center is “the nation’s best
gathering place,” hosting over 10 million visitors a year. Seattle
Center is home to award-winning theatre companies, professional sports
teams, museums, internationally acclaimed ballet and opera, nationally
recognized children’s theatre and hands-on children’s museum,
and exciting scientific exhibitions.
Business
issues:
Seattle Center employees are able to purchase monthly parking for $20
per month which is well below market value for the Center’s urban
location. This rate is specified in union contracts and cannot be removed
except through the bargaining process. In contrast, the City of Seattle
offers a flat $15 monthly transit fare subsidy to all employees. Even
with this subsidy, the cost of parking is far cheaper than the cost of
riding transit (not taking into account vehicle wear and gasoline expenses).
Unfortunately the only way to fund new HOV incentive programs at Seattle
Center is through increased employee parking revenue, which is not allowed
under current union contracts. Without internal union constituencies pushing
for an increase in transit subsidies, HOV incentive programs would be
very difficult to implement. “Cheap parking works at counter-purposes
to the relatively good transit access at Seattle Center,” said Project
Coordinator Donald Loseff. “Seattle Center employees can ride the
Monorail to Westlake Center and a direct connection to the downtown bus
tunnel. But financially, it is hard for a bus pass costing at least $39
to compete with parking that costs only $20.”
Project
description:
Seattle Center’s HOV Incentives Project aims to level the financial
playing field between cheap parking and transit fares. Employees are encouraged
to try alternative forms of transportation through a number of means.
Employees receive one “Alt-Buck” for each day they do not drive
alone to work. “Alt-Bucks” can be redeemed for either Commuter
Bonus or Commuter Bonus Plus vouchers. Employees signing on for a one-month
trial commit to not purchasing employee rate parking for one month and,
in exchange, receive an enhanced transit subsidy and free enrollment in
Flexcar as well as $25 worth of free Flexcar travel. All employees who
register for the program also are eligible for monthly drawings.
A comprehensive intranet-based tracking system was developed in an effort to automate as much of the program as possible so the program can easily be continued long after current grant funding is gone. Employees track their alternative commuting activities using a program designed specifically for this project using ASP web pages and a database interface. The program in turn alerts administrative staff to key events such as new user registration, employees who are increasing their commitment levels, or employees interested in redeeming their “Alt-Buck” incentives. Loseff hopes this program will build a constituency for future activity to raise parking costs, providing a self-funded source of comparably priced SOV and HOV transportation benefits.
Benefits and results:
“In the three months the program has been up and running we have
had a great response from employees,” Loseff said. “Almost 50
employees have registered and have logged over 1000 alternative commute
trips.” One of the outcomes Loseff anticipates is that the successful
transformation of SOV drivers to HOV drivers will show the union that
there is just as much support for providing HOV benefits as there is for
cheap parking. Awareness of alternative commute modes has risen significantly
among Seattle Center employees as well. According to Loseff, “Keeping
discussions about alternative commute modes in the mix makes it more likely
that employees will give it a try, sooner or later.”