Executive Summary

Washington’s CTR law helps combat the high volumes of congestion in the Puget Sound Region, the state’s economic hub.

2001 ushered in the ten-year anniversary of Washington’s Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Law (RCW 70.94.521-551). This law was adopted by the Washington State Legislature in 1991 to reduce traffic congestion, air pollution and consumption of petroleum products through employer-based programs that reduce single-occupant vehicle commute trips during peak hours in the state’s nine most populous counties. And at that milestone, CTR programs had removed approximately 15,900 vehicles from Puget Sound roadways each morning and eliminated 4,089 tons of air pollution. Over 585 King County worksites and 87 Snohomish County worksites participated in the Commute Trip Reduction program in Washington in 2001, affecting almost 352,034 employees across the two counties.

In 2000, just a year before this momentous anniversary, a shortage of state funds forced the Washington State Legislature to look for alternative sources to fund the state CTR program and continue its success. Consequently, the Legislature provided the Public Transportation Office of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) with federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant monies to fund CTR efforts in three Puget Sound-area counties. One of the clear directives governing these federal CMAQ funds was to produce a competitive grant program for employers affected by the CTR Law. A portion of the CMAQ funds was set aside for an Employer Services Grant Program (ESGP). The goal of the ESGP was to provide grants directly to employers to implement or enhance CTR programs at their worksites. King County received $631,260 of the available funds and Snohomish County received $86,025 for direct employer grants.

Commuter Challenge—a non-profit organization affiliated with the Economic Development Council of Seattle & King County that works to improve the region’s quality of life by providing business leaders with the expertise and support to create innovative solutions that reduce drive alone commutes while recognizing their business needs—has a long history as a successful public/private partnership in King County. WSDOT felt an organization such as this was the appropriate entity to work with employers to help them get the best results and most overall benefit from the grant program. Commuter Challenge was selected to administer the ESGP, and the parties entered into a partnership agreement in September 2001.

The Employer Services Grant Program is the culmination of a unique partnership and involved contracts with 45 employers to implement or enhance Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) programs at their worksites.

Employer Services Grant Program Results
In terms of overall results, the program met the basic goal set out in September 2001, which was to reduce overall commute trips. Some projects exceeded expectations while others failed to reach their stated goals. The estimated number of trips reduced was 41,110 per month as the grant projects began. The actual number of trips reduced was 39,113 per month based on figures provided by each employer in their final report. Over the course of the grant program, this translates into a total of 508,468 trips eliminated.

Additional key results from the ESGP include:

• Fuel savings of 392,244 gallons over the 16 months of the program.

• The prevention of 3,593 tons of air pollution per month. (1)

• An additional $0.50 employer investment leveraged for every CMAQ dollar invested in employer programs; nearly four times the amount required by the employer match.

• The 45 Employer Services Grants affected nearly 122,605 employees throughout the two-county region through efforts such as: formation of new vanshare and vanpool groups; implementation of telework pilot programs; development and testing of Proximate Commute software applications; building of bicycle lockers and maintenance facilities; purchase of hybrid vehicles for employee use during the workday; and marketing and outreach at each worksite.

Toward the future
The results of the Employer Services Grant Program indicate that reducing commute trips through voluntary partnerships and direct grants for employer use is a cost-effective approach that leverages public funds, generates significant employer investment, and builds good will with employers.

Because of the positive results and experience Commuter Challenge developed through its administration of the ESGP, King County Metro awarded additional CMAQ funds to Commuter Challenge in 2002 for a second round of employer grants via a contract with WSDOT. Commuter Challenge used the same process as developed for the first round of grants, making only minor adjustments based on the lessons learned during that process. More than $437,000 was awarded to 27 employer projects in King County. As of August 2003, all but one project has been implemented with more than 50,900 trips already reduced since February of this year. 2002 ESGP grant winners will be profiled in upcoming issues of the Pacesetter.

For more information, download the PDF version of the entire report (423KB).

(1) Figure includes emissions of the following pollutants: CO , CH , N O, VOC, CO and NOX.

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