This study was conducted to make direct contact with the employees in Arlington County. The purpose of this study was to: (a) assess current commuting patterns and benefits offered/used by employees in each urban village (b) directly market Arlington’s travel options and benefits to commuters who could then champion change from within the organization (c) create awareness of free ATP services.
KEY FINDINGS
Overall Trends:
- Proximity to transit greatly affects an employee’s decision to drive.
- A large percentage of companies offer telework.
- More Arlington employees use alternative transportation options than drive alone.
- Internal marketing of commuter programs is lacking in most companies.
Trends by Urban Village:
- Pentagon City had the highest percentage of employers offering a transit benefit.
- Clarendon had the highest drive alone rate at 60%. Time was the largest reason why commuters drove alone.
- Ballston had the highest percentage of employers offering telework at 20%.
Recommendations:
- Use employee responses to determine the need for additional database update
- Create a new campaign based on new prospects identified
- Encourage internal marketing of transit benefit programs and development of formal telework policies
- Encourage companies to offer pre-tax transit who offer direct benefits is not affordable
- Identify potential regional partnerships based on jurisdictions of employee origin
- Annually survey employees, potentially at Commuter Stores, to determine changes in commute patterns and benefits used or offered
METHODOLOGY
- Mode of Data Collection – Interviews conducted by approaching people on the street
- Completed Surveys – 566 Total Respondents (Rosslyn = 100; Courthouse = 100; Clarendon = 84; Ballston/VA Square = 100; Pentagon City = 82; Crystal City = 100)
- Survey Population – Commuters in the urban villages
- Survey Instrument – Paper survey
DOCUMENTS FOR DOWNLOAD
Technical Summary (PDF): Summary – 2010 ATP Employee Commute SURVEY
Survey Questionnaire (PDF): 2009 ATP Employee Commute Survey QUESTIONNAIRE – Ballston
Interviewer’s Script (PDF): 2009 ATP Employee Commute Survey SCRIPT
Contact the TRAC Research Team for more information.