The Starbucks Support Center in the SODO neighborhood of South Seattle has been involved in transportation leadership for as long as the Diamond Awards. We honor their accomplishments by first noting that 45% of their partners participate in their transportation benefit program. This translates to eliminating 28,000 miles of commute trips reduced and 3,500 tons of CO2 prevented from entering the atmosphere! Starbucks offers limited and fee parking on site for the 3,000 partners who work at the Support Center to encourage all manner of alternate commute choices.

The Starbucks bike program is very successful with dedicated on-site amenities for bikers such as showers, lockers and enclosed secure storage for their bikes. Starbucks provides commute passes for bus, train, vanpools and ferries at a 50% face value discount for partners. A fleet of shuttles operates from 6am to 8:30pm to bring partners to the Starbucks Support Center and the Colman Ferry Dock, the Pioneer Square Starbucks store and the Bus Tunnel. Starbucks always goes the extra mile—in their case, it is a shared trip! The leadership and commitment of this company is evident in outstanding results, leading the way to a cleaner and better environment for the region.

*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.