The Seattle Times has a good new report on vanpooling. Why Seattle stands out. Why business buy-in can be crucial. How vanpools cut down on traffic. And who the right people are for vanpools.
For starters, this is a great graphic on the top vanpool locations throughout the U.S.
Boeing and Microsoft have been commuting leaders in car-clogged Seattle.
In 2005, Boeing moved 150 people working within its propulsion-systems division in Seattle to a new building in Everett. Mary Lou Mikelsons was among those relocated to Everett. Overnight, her commute doubled. She formed a vanpool with co-workers that saved her at least 30 minutes of daily travel time. Boeing’s vanpool subsidy was a big incentive. The company initially offered participants $30 a month, and later upped the subsidy to $60 a month to encourage vanpool groups.
Microsoft offers its Puget Sound employees a $100 monthly subsidy that can be used to reduce vanpool fare. In 2016, Microsoft President Brad Smith said 42 percent of company workers used a form of transportation other than driving alone for their daily commute.
On the national level:
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority runs the second largest vanpool operation, with 1,378 vanpools in 2016, behind Seattle, according to the FTA. Not surprisingly, the two cities also experience more traffic congestion than many other urban areas. San Diego was a more distant third, with 727 vanpools.
Washington’s focus on reducing solo car commutes helps explain why the Seattle region leads the nation in vanpools, said Philip Winters, director of transportation demand management at the Center for Urban Transportation Research in Tampa, Florida.
He cited the state’s 1991 Commute Trip Reduction law that requires major employers in urban areas to develop plans that encourage alternatives to driving alone to work.
That’s one reason why Kaiser Permanente, and companies like it, subsidize the costs of a vanpool or an ORCA card.
“You have a lot of large companies actively trying to reduce the number of people driving alone,” Winters said. “So you have their attention and their participation and not many communities have that.”
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