Looking for a Park & Ride lot? Now you can find one easier than ever before with • Telecommuter Appreciation CommuteSmart.info’s new interactive Park Week, March 2-8 & Ride lot feature that uses Google Earth • Bicycling workshop, mapping to bring you an at-a-glance March 5 picture of where lots are located throughout Southern California. Full story
• Rideshare on Huell Howser's Visiting, March 24 More Events
You probably spend most of your rideshare efforts trying to help 10 tips for conducting a employees find ongoing rideshare successful AVR survey arrangements, and of course that’s Full story important—but what about those who need a ride temporarily? Full story
• Voters think next president will influence gas prices
• NBC's Today Show hosts give carpooling a try • Los Angeles makes the list of most miserable cities Running rideshare programs • New York considers a rush-hour entrance fee from A-Z.Full story • VPSI launches transportation blog
Get news geared to commuters that you can forward to employees or incorporate into your own rideshare newsletter. Looking for a Park & Ride Lot? Now you can find one easier than ever before with CommuteSmart.info’s new interactive Park & Ride lot feature that uses Google Earth mapping to bring you an at-a-glance picture of where lots are located throughout Southern California. (If you don’t have Google Map software, it can be downloaded instantly free.) Just go CommuteSmart.info and click on “Lots, Lanes & Links.” Choose whether you want to view all Park & Ride lots or by county in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino or Ventura. Pull down menus for each Park & Ride lot show:
● Number of stalls
● Owner & operator
● Contact phone number
● Hours of service
● Whether it’s a Metro Rail or Metrolink terminal
● Bus lines that serve the Park & Ride
● Any applicable fees or permits required
● List of amenities such as restrooms, payphones, lighting, landscaping, bike racks and lockers
Fast, Flexible Features Zoom in and out for a better view of nearby freeways, roads and landmarks. View Park & Ride lot locations along with real-time traffic conditions in any area you select. Search for your home address to find your closest Park & Ride lot – then choose “get directions” for the best route to get there. Have Questions About Park & Ride Lots? Check out our Park & Ride lot FAQs, or for operator assistance, call 1.800.COMMUTE. You probably spend most of your Guaranteed Ride Home rideshare efforts trying to help Solo drivers aren’t the only ones who employees find ongoing rideshare arrangements, and of course that’s occasionally need help finding a ride. important—but what about those who What about an employee who carpooled and suddenly needs to get home in need a ride temporarily? An employee’s car is in the shop...his or her usual case of emergency? Or employees who miss their usual ride home because carpool partner is on vacation...or there’s a short-term problem like they had to work unexpected overtime? downed roads (such as happened You can help them when the need recently when the I-5 closed for days arises by signing up for Guaranteed due to wildfires) and an employee Ride Home now. This program, which is needs an alternate commute free to companies in Southern California, allows you to provide your arrangement until the situation is cleared up. employees who rideshare to work with free taxi or rental car rides home in "It’s smart to have help ready for cases of illness, emergency or employees who come to you and need unexpected overtime. an on-the-spot carpool or transit route," For details, contact your rideshare says Denise VanStratten with Inland representative or account executive Empire Commuter Services. "For one, it (see Calendar for contact information) establishes you as the place to go for or go to the Employer Help section at commuter help. More importantly, it’s a CommuteSmart.info foot in the door. They’ll try ridesharing this time because they need to—but it’s quite possible they’ll continue ridesharing because they enjoyed their experience." A way to prepare now: Make sure you have access to your employees’ commute data so you can easily create matches online when you need them. If you’ve surveyed for average vehicle ridership (AVR), that data is accessible through CommuteSmart.info. All you need to do is contact your rideshare agency to get an access code. Once you have that, any time an employee asks for help, you can pull up his or her rideshare record to generate an instant matchlist with potential carpool partners, vanpool seats, and more.
Other resources for fast matching...
● Call 1.800.COMMUTE, M-F, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
● Go to CommuteSmart.info and choose the "Find a Carpool/Vanpool" icon or Bus/Rail Trip Planner.
● To find a temporary seat on a vanpool or in a carpool, go to CommuteSmart.info, choose the “Find a Carpool/Vanpool” icon and go to “Ride Exchange,” an online bulletin board of rides wanted/needed. Listings are continuously updated and span Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
● To find a ridematch within employees at your company, use the zip code list or density map provided along with your AVR results to locate other employees who live near the employee and would be willing to give them a ride.
● Your rideshare representative or account executive can help you get individual RideGuides for employees as well. • Voters think next president will influence gas prices Most Americans believe that the person we choose as president could impact gas prices, according to a recent Associated Press-Yahoo! report. Of the more than 2,000 adults surveyed, 69% said that they could see the next president’s decisions having the power to make gasoline prices go up or down...no word, however, on which candidate would send prices in which direction.
• NBC's Today Show hosts give carpooling a try Hosts of NBC’s Today Show piled into a car in the wee hours of the morning to show viewers how carpooling can help save fuel and cut greenhouse gases. It was part of their "Today Goes Green" series which focuses on small ways people can help the environment. Al Roker brought donuts for fellow passengers Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry, quipping, "This way if we get stuck, we won’t have to eat the driver." See it on msnbc.msn.com
• Los Angeles makes the list of most miserable cities Forbes magazine named Los Angeles its sixth most miserable city in the US, based on what it calls its “misery measure” that rated major cities based on unemployment, personal tax rates, commute times, weather and crime. While Los Angeles has some of the best weather (it’s ranked seventh) we scored poorly when it came to commute times and taxes. It could be worse. The #1 most miserable city? Detroit. For details, go to Forbes.com
• New York considers a rush-hour entrance fee A New York commission has approved a plan to charge a fee to drivers entering Manhattan during peak hours. The proposal would charge $8 to drivers entering a certain area between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and put the funds toward public transit. The plan must now be approved by the city council, Mayor Bloomberg and the state legislature.
• VPSI launches transportation blog VPSI, a national vanpooling company, recently launched a blog that it describes as "a forum and online resource portal for commuters who want to learn about the financial and environmental benefits of sustainable transportation alternatives." Check it out at pooling-resources.com Surveying for average vehicle ridership (AVR) is an important part of your rideshare program. It allows you to collect the data you need to match employees with rides and provide RideGuide commute planners. You may also need to survey to meet air district mandates. Here, we offer 10 tips for getting through the survey process with ease:
1. Start early. A two-month lead is recommended (and in fact, in Los Angeles County, employers are required to attend a briefing at least 60 days before surveying). This gives ample time to plan the entire survey process from beginning to end, roll it out, and leave leeway for handling snags along the way.
2. Consider going electronic. If your employees have email and Internet access, it may be time to throw away your old paper AVR survey and trade it for the new online way of collecting data. You’ll save time and money, and many employers say they get better results because there’s less room for error when an employee completes a survey online versus on paper. The online form is self-correcting — plus you can check number of responses at any time.
3. Set a goal and aim high. Regardless of what percentage of returned surveys the air district may require, "aim to get more back than your minimum," advises Donna Blanchard with Metro. "Cut it too close and you could fall under the goal and have an invalid survey. Getting as many as possible in can’t hurt you and it could actually help since those surveys you don’t collect default to drive-alones and potentially lower your AVR."
4. Post your goal. Help employees understand that every survey matters. Post your percentage of surveys returned last year and let staff know you’re trying to beat that number. As surveys are turned in, frequently update how close you are to reaching your goal.
5. Publicize. Hang posters. Hold an event. Make announcements at staff meetings. Send reminder emails. Launch a full-scale campaign. It may sound like a lot of work just to ask them to fill in a form, but, truth is, employees have so much on their plates (and in their in-boxes), if you don’t draw attention to the survey, it simply won’t get filled out and returned.
6. Offer an incentive. Give a small reward like a candy bar for every survey returned, or enter them in a raffle for larger prizes.
7. Throw a party. Make a completed survey their "ticket" to get in.
8. Get them to work as a team. Any department or floor that gets 100% response can get a pizza party or a 6-foot subway sandwich to share.
9. Use it to toot your horn. Similar to a "guess how many beans are in the jar" contest, as employees turn in their survey, allow them to participate in a "guess how many transit riders we have" or "how many gallons of gas do our ridesharers save?"” contest. Award a prize to the closest guess.
10. Be sure to follow up. Publicize how many surveys were returned and your AVR results—even if it’s not "good news," it helps lay the groundwork for next year. As an employee transportation coordinator (ETC), you do it all from A-Z...and this list proves it! Keep it handy for the next time you’re up for a review, you need to write a job description... or as a reminder that you do so much more than "just" promote ridesharing. As an ETC, you need to be a pro in...
Alternate modes—Being the "go-to" person for all Marketing—Running regular in-office rideshare campaigns – things carpool, vanpool, bus, rail, bicycling and walking including posters, flyers, bulletin boards, newsletters, emails for employees and more Budgets—Allocating and Networking—Sharing ideas and getting input from other overseeing funds for ETCs rideshare incentives and Organizing & overseeing—You can’t do all this without outreach—often finding ways to supplement a great organizing and delegating skills shoestring budget with "freebies" from outside sources Public relations—Communicating Crisis commuting—Creating a plan to get employees your good environmental practices to to and from work should an earthquake or other the community as well as managers disaster shake up their usual commute and/or corporate headquarters Data management—Managing the online commute Quick response—Meeting employees’ data for employees, including conducting an annual commute needs in a timely manner survey to obtain data and then updating it regularly Regulations—Developing and writing Event planning—Running a plan that meets air district events (fairs, contests, parties) regulations (Rule 2202 in the South Coast Air Basin) and that motivate employees to overseeing the rollout of the plan throughout the year to rideshare meet mandated average vehicle ridership (AVR) goals Facilities—Ensuring that Sales—Continually "selling" the idea of ridesharing to facilities – such as employee employees (and possibly selling transit passes as well) parking – aid ridesharing (such as by offering preferential parking to carpoolers) Tax laws—If applicable, saving your employees and company money by Geography—Knowing the lay of the land throughout taking advantage of tax laws that allow Southern California to better match carpoolers and for pre-tax deductions on some vanpoolers and help employees find transit options commute costs Human resources—Working closely with HR to 1) Urban planning—When necessary, develop and/or oversee rideshare incentives that are working with local cities or agencies to help create better bus part of the employee benefits package, 2) set access, improve access/egress to your work site, etc. up policies & procedures for commute-related "perks" such as Variable work schedules—Establishing telecommuting, and 3) make and/or overseeing telecommuting, flex-time rideshare information part of the and compressed work week scheduling new-hire process Writing & design—Creating and/or overseeing Interpersonal communication— rideshare campaign materials Getting out there and actually X-ray vision—Conducting surveys, focus talking to employees groups or one-on-one interviews to see inside Juggling—Most ETCs say that handling rideshare employees’ motivations and get them to responsibilities is only part of their job so being able to rideshare keep lots of balls in the air is essential Your own good example—Walking the talk by ridesharing Keeping records—Accurately tracking to work yourself who is ridesharing, how much, and Zeal—Corny but true...employees “catch” your excitement when about ridesharing! Learning—Attending workshops, briefings and other training COMMUTESMART NEWS Editor/Writer: Jill Smolinski Art Director: Harlan West
For subscription information or to EVENTS TRAINING change your COMMUTESMART March 2-8—Telecommuter NEWS e-mail address, contact your Appreciation Week, representative at the rideshare office sponsored by the American nearest you. Telecommuting Association, Metro Commute Services 1.800.ATA.4YOU, One Gateway Plaza yourata.com MS 99-19-05 Los Angeles, CA 90012-2952 Rideshare Diamond Business: 213.922.2811 Awards honor outstanding rideshare programs in Los OCTA’s Commuter Connection Angeles and Ventura 550 S. Main St., Counties; nominations are due March 28 (the Orange, CA 92868 awards luncheon will be held in May). For Mailing address: details or a nomination form contact Donna • Bike to Work workshop, sponsored PO Box 14184 Blanchard at [email protected] by Metro and Association for Commuter Orange, CA 92863 Transportation, is March 5 at CalTech Business: 714.560.5358 University in Pasadena. Get tips and information about the upcoming Bike to Ventura County Transportation Work Day in May, plus earn a marketing Commission certificate for the AQMD. Registration is 950 County Square Dr., Ste. 207, Ventura, CA 93003 $15 for ACT members, $30 non- Business: 805.642.1591, ext. 119 members and includes breakfast and Huell Howser's special on ridesharing will lunch. To register or for more air on KCET March 24 at 7:30 p.m. and again Inland Empire information, email Devon Deming at at 1 a.m. - if you missed it the first time Commuter Services [email protected] around, here's your chance to catch this Office location: 7355 Magnolia Ave. entertaining look at ridesharing in Southern Riverside, CA 92504 California. • Metro Commute Services requires Mailing address: NETWORK MEETINGS employers to attend a briefing 60 days PO Box 51540 prior to their AQMD submittal date. Riverside, CA 92517-2540 Coachella Valley ETC Network Business: 1.866.IECS4HELP meets bi-annually; call 1.866.IECS4HELP. Upcoming briefings are March 12, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. and April 9, 1-3 p.m. For (1.866.432.7443) Downtown Los Angeles Network meets quarterly; call 213.922.5669. more information or to reserve a space, email [email protected] Commuter Infomation Glendale TMA meets regularly; 1.800.COMMUTE (266.6883) call 818-543-7641. • South Coast Air Quality commutesmart.info Orange County Network meets regularly; Management District (AQMD) offers call 714.560.5358 or email one-day ETC training for $61.70. [email protected] Upcoming sessions are March 6 and Pasadena TMA meets March 11; call John April 2 at the AQMD offices in Diamond HWDS1562-2/08 Miranda at 818.354.7433. Bar, March 19 at Metro offices in Los Riverside County ETC Network meets tri- Angeles, March 26 at UC Riverside and annually; call 1.866.IECS4HELP. April 9 at Warner Center in Woodland San Bernardino County ETC Network Hills. Contact Lisa Van Sornsen, meets tri-annually; call 1.866.IECS4HELP. [email protected] or the AQMD's Santa Monica ETC Network meets training program at regularly; call 310.458.8956. [email protected] or visit AQMD at South Bay/Westside TMA meets monthly; aqmd.gov contact Christina Gallegos at 310.940.2106, email [email protected] Torrance Transportation Network meets regularly; call Kim Fuentes at 310.784.7902. Warner Center TMO meets monthly; call 818.716.5520.