Northwest Hospital & Medical Center has more than 1,900 employees at two worksites in North Seattle. Employees are encouraged to commute in all ways except for driving alone to work. Every employee is provided with a King County Metro Flexpass at no cost to them. The Flexpass can be used for taking the bus or for vanpooling to work. In the last three years, Northwest has increased vanpooling from five to 17 vanpools by providing a 100% subsidy. Employees are charged for parking unless they join a vanpool or carpool, when parking is free. Northwest Hospital has also supported King County Metro for the past eight years by paying the cost of a Metro Transit bus to stop on the campus. Robert Werdell, Northwest Hospital’s employee transportation coordinator, is available to employees via cell phone during work hours. Robert is a vanpool driver himself, and sets a great example for employees to try alternative ways of getting to work. NWJobs.com recently awarded Northwest Hospital & Medical Center as a people’s pick for Favorite Healthcare Company in the Puget Sound region. One of the reasons is that “getting to work is a piece of cake!”

*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.