Listen to one of the ads featuring this winner!
(Produced and broadcast by KUOW.)

Uncommon leadership earns fifth Diamond Ring Award
Safeco Insurance, a Fortune 500 property and casualty insurance company based in Seattle, has supported employee transportation programs for over 30 years. Safeco recognizes its important role as a civic leader in mitigating traffic problems and continues to be at the forefront of designing and modeling innovative commute trip reduction strategies. This ongoing dedication has garnered the organization a variety of prestigious awards for its program including: EPA Best Workplaces for Commuters; Commuter Choice Leadership Champion; Governor’s Commute Champion; and recognition from the City of Seattle and the City of Redmond for its outstanding Commute Trip Reduction program.

Safeco will add to this impressive list the 2004 Commuter Challenge Diamond Ring Award for Organizational Leadership. This will be Safeco’s fifth Diamond Ring award.

Safeco offers its employees who vanpool or ride the bus a FlexPass that gives them unlimited rides on Metro, Community Transit, and Sound Transit. Reduced-fee parking is provided at Seattle sites as an incentive to carpool while single occupant vehicles (SOV) pay a higher monthly fee. At suburban sites where parking is provided free of charge, carpools get reserved and priority parking. For those employees who walk or bicycle to work, Safeco provides secure bike racks, showers and locker facilities.

In 2004, Safeco rolled out the Redmond Bike/Walk incentive, a program made possible through the Redmond R-Trip grant. The Bike/Walk incentive allowed employees who walked or rode a bicycle to work at least 12 days per month to earn up to $100 during their first three months. "We continually look for cost effective solutions that provide employees with options to get to work safely, on time, and ready to work," says Brady Clark, Senior Transportation Analyst and CTR Program Manager for Safeco.

Safeco’s commute program helps the company save money in the long run by reducing the need for additional leased parking. The commute program also helps make Safeco an attractive employer. In the Puget Sound, close to 50% of Safeco’s employees use an alternative to driving alone.

In addition to being a leader in providing a comprehensive transportation program for their employees, Safeco is a leader in helping to solve regional transportation problems. "Safeco works to shape local and statewide transportation through its involvement with local and statewide committees," Clark says. Management supports work with outside transportation groups such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Commuter Choice Leadership Initiative, the Washington State Rideshare Organization, the Greater Redmond Transportation Management Association and the Regional Vanpool Coordination Team.

"Safeco knows that commute trip reduction is good for its employees," Clark says, "as well as its business objectives." Through its comprehensive CTR program, Safeco is able to achieve its goal of reducing traffic congestion, air pollution, petroleum consumptions and meet statewide goals and regulations.

Commute Program
Commute Program
Transit, ferry and vanpool subsidy
Flexpass for transit and vanpools
Discounted and/or priority HOV parking
Guaranteed Ride Home
Covered bicycle parking
Showers and lockers
Telework and compressed work weeks
Pool vehicles

*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.

 

 

BACK TO TOP