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25% of Nintendo staff use alternative commute
Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. While the company has established itself as the worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo of America has also established itself as a local leader in reducing congestion on our roadways by encouraging its employees to use alternative commute modes. It is this leadership that has earned Nintendo a 2004 Commuter Challenge Diamond Award for Organizational Leadership.

Nintendo has seen a drop of more than 6% in employee SOV commuting over the course of one year. More than 25% of the company’s Redmond employees utilize an alternative commute mode at least once a week with 15% of the employee population carpooling to work.

Nintendo employees who ride local transit can choose either a Flexpass for unlimited rides on Sound Transit and Metro busses or $70 per month in commuter vouchers for Community Transit busses. Employees who join a vanpool receive a $70 per month vanpool subsidy.

A variety of on-site services also make ETC Gary Ford’s job of convincing his co-workers to leave their cars at home that much easier. Employees have access to dry cleaning, ATM machines, stamps, newspapers and a cafeteria right on campus. Lockers and showers are provided for bicyclists and walkers, and Guaranteed Ride Home service also is available to employees who need an emergency ride on days when they ride the bus or carpool.

In August 2004, Nintendo launched a new onsite Flexcar as part of its CTR program. Funded in part by a Washington State CTR Performance Grant and a grant from the City of Redmond, this one-year pilot project was the result of feedback on employee surveys that indicated a significant number of people would consider leaving their personal cars at home if they had a car to use for personal and business errands during the workday. Nintendo’s Flexcar program allows employees who leave their cars at home to use the onsite Flexcar for free (gas and insurance included) for personal or business errands. To date, 75 employees have become Flexcar members and in November, the last month for which data is available, employees used the vehicle a total of 275 hours. To increase visibility of the new Flexcar option, Nintendo has held bi-monthly drawings to win the use of the Flexcar for an entire weekend. One employee even won the use of the Flexcar for the Thanksgiving holiday with unlimited mileage and free gas!

For 2004’s Bike to Work Day, Nintendo offered free on-site bike tune-ups to any employee who fulfilled their commitment to bike to work that day. Bicyclists have continued to receive free bike tune-ups as long as they bike to work at least four times a month.

The company’s intranet plays a vital role in educating employees on their commute options by providing a section dedicated to alternative commute mode support and information on the different options. Articles are published on the intranet including testimonials from employees touting the financial and other benefits they experience using commute options. Announcements for prize drawings for non-SOV commuters also are advertised via the intranet. "I’ve been told that we're doing so much to get alternative commuting info out to employees that it has become ‘cool’ at Nintendo to use an alternative commute or book the Flexcar hybrid for a lunch outing," said Ford.

Ford enjoys a good deal of support from management to continually improve the CTR program to meet the needs of employees. Senior management was very supportive of the new Flexcar program, and when King County Metro announced its decision to raise vanpool fares in 2005, Nintendo's senior management didn't hesitate to raise the monthly subsidy to help keep employees in their vanpools. Some of this support, no doubt, comes from the fact that many members of the management team, including a Director and a Vice President, regularly use an alternative commute mode to get to work.

Commute Program
Transit and vanpool subsidy
Carpool incentives
Guaranteed Ride Home
Covered bicycle parking
Showers and lockers
Telework, flextime and compressed workweeks
Onsite Flexcar
Internal ridematch services

*Some definitions: An "ETC" is the staff-level employee transportation coordinator responsible for the daily administration of the transportation program. "SOV" stands for single-occupant vehicle, and "CTR" for commute trip reduction.

 

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