Smart Transportation Choices Get Rewarded

Community Transit’s Choice Connection program promotes smart transportation options throughout our community. In 2015 these programs combined removed over 538,696 drive-alone trips for our roads, and 5.8 million pounds of CO2 from the air we breathe.Two innovative incentive programs are offered to help reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and encourage healthy travel options.

• Smart Commuter Rewards is an incentive program that helps large businesses motivate employees to reduce their drive-alone trips to work.
• Curb the Congestion promotes smart transportation options to residents and employees on six of Snohomish County’s most congested corridors.

Each quarter Community Transit recognizes standout participants and employers who are dedicated to smart transportation choices. Congratulations to the Choice Connections award winners for 4th Quarter of 2015:


Smart Commuter of the Quarter, Daniel Dootson

Curb the Congestion Champion of the Quarter

Eric Blanchet of Monroe travels over 58 miles a day by longboard, skateboard and bus every day to his job at Microsoft in Redmond. For over seven years he’s been committed to choosing a healthy commute not only for himself, but the environment as well. He’s often seen riding his longboard around the Microsoft campus, and even helps teach his coworkers how to ride.

 

Smart Commuter of the Quarter

Daniel Dootson of Edmonds has biked 50,000 miles over the past 23 years, rain or shine five days a week to work. As Edmonds Community College’s Visual Media Services Director, he applies this same tenacity to his job. He knows that if he can conquer the elements, he can handle anything that might come his way during the day.

 

Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC) of the Quarter

Sylvia Peacock of Trade Products & Specialty Manufacturing in Lynnwood is consistent in her Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) efforts. She makes the time to provide extra assistance to her employees, many of which don’t have access to a computer. Thanks to her efforts she increased her number of employees tracking their non-drive alone trips by 20%, and helped save over 2,100 pounds of CO2 pollution during in the fourth quarter alone.

 

Employer of the Quarter

The City of Monroe consistently provides outreach and education to their employees on smart transportation choices to work. By the end of the fourth quarter 2015 they had 20% of their employees participating in their worksite transportation program. In partnership with Community Transit, the City of Monroe is working to expand their efforts to promote smart transportation to other residents and employers in the community. These consistent efforts are making an impact, and helping take cars off the road in our communities.

 

The Choice Connections program recognizes individuals and worksites in Snohomish County and the City of Bothell that support Washington State Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) goals. They go above and beyond to use smart transportation alternatives to driving alone, and encourage workers to do so.

 

To learn more about the Choice Connections program and to sign up to start receiving rewards for your smart transportation choices, please visit www.communitytransit/ChoiceConnections.

Smart Transportation Choices Get Rewarded

Smart Commuter of the Quarter, Erin from AT&T

Community Transit’s Choice Connection program promotes smart transportation options throughout our community. Two innovative incentive programs are offered to help reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and encourage healthy travel options:

• Smart Commuter Rewards is an incentive program that helps large businesses motivate employees to reduce their drive-alone trips to work.
• Curb the Congestion promotes smart transportation options to residents and employees on six of Snohomish County’s most congested corridors. 

From January-September these programs combined have already removed over 376,522 drive-alone trips for our roads and 3.5 million pounds of CO2 from the air we breathe. Each quarter Community Transit recognizes standout participants and employers who are dedicated to smart transportation choices and healthy transportation options. Congratulations to the Choice Connections award winners for 3rd Quarter of 2015:

Curb the Congestion Champion of the Quarter

Valauri Stotler of Lynnwood uses bus, carpool, light rail and walking for 99% of all the trips she makes. These trips include commuting to work to the City of Seattle, walking to the store and getting to the airport. Over the past year her smart transportation choices saved over 7,900 drive alone miles, 3,870 pounds of CO2 from the air we breathe and over $1,500 in personal transportation expenses.

Smart Commuter of the Quarter

Erin, a Senior Field Asset Administrator, tracks and reports out AT&T’s network assets. She walks the talk by choosing to walk, vanpool, bike or telecommute to work for over 15 years. Erin is dedicated to a healthy lifestyle and environment, and makes smart transportation choices a priority not only for her commute from Seattle to Bothell, but also for most of her personal trips.

Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC) of the Quarter

Dena Searcy of Comcast Lynnwood is committed to making her worksite transportation program a success. Her diligent efforts to train and educate her employees about their transportation options have made a huge impact. Dena registered 111 employees in their transportation program, far surpassing their original goal of 65. Her efforts helped to save over 7,600 pounds of CO2 pollution during in the third quarter alone.

Employer of the Quarter

Vertafore in Bothell makes smart transportation choices a priority at their workplace. By the end of the third quarter they registered over a third of their employees in RideshareOnline.com; connecting their employees to transportation resources and incentives. Their consistent efforts are making a huge impact, and during the third quarter alone they saved over 32,500 drive alone miles from our roadways.

To learn more about the Choice Connections program and to sign up to start receiving rewards for your smart transportation choices, please visit www.communitytransit/ChoiceConnections.

Community Transit Recognizes Leaders in Smart Transportation Options

Community Transit’s Choice Connections program recognizes worksites in Snohomish County and the City of Bothell who support Washington State Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) goals. They go above and beyond to encourage their employees to use smart transportation options to driving alone.

 

Smart Commuter of the Quarter, Josefina Behymer

Congratulations to the Choice Connections award winners for 1st Quarter 2015:

Smart Commuter of the Quarter
Josefina Behymer is a liaison between internal buyers and engineers at Boeing Canyon Park Commons in Bothell. She is a vital connection to ensure that orders are accurate and streamlined. Josefina displays her commitment to smart transportation choices by taking the ferry and vanpooling for her commute of 88 miles each day. We’d like to recognize Josefina for her devotion to smart transportation choices that help keep the environment healthy for everyone!

Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC) of the Quarter
Woody Whitaker has been the ETC for Allstate for eight years. He provides employees with support and information about their transportation options, and helps them find an attractive commute to fit their lifestyle. Woody takes the time to meet with Allstate’s new employees to explain the company’s subsidy program, as well as commute options to their Bothell worksite. Woody’s continued support of the program has resulted in 25% of the worksite’s employees logging trips in RideshareOnline.com, saving over 78,000 miles and more than $22,800 in fuel during the first quarter of 2015. 

Employer of the Quarter
Electric Mirror made a big commitment to smart transportation when it implemented a subsidy program for their carpools and vanpools. Parking was at a premium at their South Everett worksite, so they took a proactive approach to fix their overcrowded parking lots. Electric Mirror announced the rollout of a subsidy program to their employees in the month of February and began sign ups in March. As a result, 20% of their workforce is now carpooling. During the first quarter of 2015 their efforts removed 1,146 trips and more than 12,000 drive alone miles. 

Choice Connections rewards commuters for choosing smart transportation options and offers the tools and resources needed to get started. When you choose a smart commute, your efforts reduce traffic, save money and time, and help the environment. To learn more about the Choice Connections program, please visit www.community transit/ChoiceConnections.

 

Community Transit recognizes stand out participants

Community Transit’s Choice Connections program recognizes worksites in Snohomish County and the City of Bothell who support Washington State Commute Trip Reduction goals. They go above and beyond to encourage their employees to use smart transportation alternatives to driving alone. Congratulations to the Choice Connections award winners for 3rd Quarter 2014:

Ben Stockinger, Smart Commuter

Smart Commuter of the Quarter

Ben Stockinger is webmaster for the City of Lynnwood. He is diligent about developing, managing and supporting the city’s web resources and services. Ben has also been a devoted advocate of alternative transportation for the past 15 years by biking, walking and carpooling to work and meetings. He is a personal advocate at his worksite, and helps educate his coworkers on biking to work. Ben chooses to bike to work, rain or shine, even during the rainy Pacific Northwest weather.

ETC of the Quarter

Marko Liias has done great things for the Commute Trip Reduction program at the City of Mukilteo. Within his first couple months, he reviewed their entire CTR program and set in place new strategies to achieve success and educate city employees. Due to his efforts, the City of Mukilteo achieved over a 50% increase in employees tracking their non-drive alone trips in RideshareOnline.com. Marko’s efforts also contributed to their employees more than quadrupling their number of drive alone miles saved, which helps ease traffic congestion and supports a healthy environment. 

Employer of the Quarter

Panasonic Avionics Corporation provides its employees with the tools and encouragement to ensure a successful worksite Commute Trip Reduction program. They hosted an appreciation luncheon for rideshare participants, and educated employees on the RideshareOnline.com system. They delivered another great perk, a certificate for a paid day off, which will be awarded to three participants using a commute alternative to driving alone. During the third quarter alone, Panasonic participants have removed more than 43,000 lbs of CO² from the air we breathe and saved almost 2,200 gallons of fuel.

Choice Connections rewards commuters for choosing a smart alternative to driving alone, and offers the tools and resources needed to get started. When you choose a smart commute, your efforts reduce traffic, save money and time, and help the environment. To learn more about the Choice Connections program, please visit Community Transit Choice Connections.

 

Community Transit Recognizes Smart Transportation Choices

Community Transit’s Choice Connections program recognizes worksites and commuters in Snohomish County and the City of Bothell that go above and beyond to reduce pollution and congestion by promoting healthy transportation choices.

Congratulations to the Choice Connections Award winners for the 2nd Quarter of 2014:

Smart Commuter of the Quarter

Gina Paterson-Bryant from Premera Mountlake Terrace audits processes and systems to better serve Premera’s customers. She carefully considered her impact on the environment, and made a very deliberate decision to give up her car completely in 2005. Gina uses public transportation, carpools and walks for her commute and all of her personal errands as well. She is a personal advocate and resource for her co-workers on how to use transit and go car free!

 

ETC of the Quarter

Kelly Davis from Seattle Genetics in Bothell used her passion as a cyclist to take her worksite program to the next level.  Kelly led Seattle Genetics to receive the Cascade Bicycle Club Silver-level BizCycle Certification denoting Seattle Genetics as an outstanding employer for commuters. Kelly organized her worksite’s Bike to Work Month Campaign and tied it to a fundraiser for Gilda’s Club. Kelly’s team raised $6,000 for cancer support and together biked over 6,000 miles in the month of May. 

Employer of the Quarter

T-Mobile in Bothell developed a major campaign to encourage their employees to register and log their trips in RideshareOnline.com, a commute tracking program. The campaign included a generous number of gift card as an incentive for new users. The campaign added 88 new participants to RideshareOnline.com for a total of 106 actively participating employees. The successful campaign launched T-Mobile to surpass its tracking goal to reach133% of employees logging trips.

Choice Connections reward commuters for choosing a smart alternative to driving alone, and offers the tools and resources needed to get started. When you choose a smart commute, your efforts reduce traffic, save money and time, and help the environment. To learn more about the Choice Connections program, please visit Community Transit Choice Connections.

Community Transit Recognizes Smart Transportation Choices

 

Did you know that over 50% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Washington come from transportation sources?

Community Transit’s Choice Connections program recognizes worksites and commuters in Snohomish County and the City of Bothell that go above and beyond to reduce pollution and congestion by promoting alternatives to driving alone.

The Choice Connections award winners for the 1st Quarter of 2014 were:

Smart Commuter of the Quarter

Mark Fagan, Smart Commuter of the Quarter

Mark Fagan from Esterline-Korry gave up his car as part of a New Year’s resolution and hasn’t looked back. He is able to commute to work via vanpool, Swift and bicycle and is enjoying the positive effects to both his health and wallet. Mark’s personal mission is to use his smart commute to reduce his carbon footprint.

Employee Transportation Coordinator of the Quarter
Jeanne Killgore of The Everett Clinic at Smokey Point has been instrumental in evaluating her worksite Commute Trip Reduction program to successfully remove drive alone trips from our roads. Thanks to her hard work she was successfully able to surpass her worksite survey requirements, which helps to gauge future areas for program growth.

Employer of the Quarter
The City of Lynnwood is dedicated to making it easier for their employees to choose smart transportation options. They offer a monthly incentive for those who choose not to drive alone to work. Their worksite show an impressive savings of over 4,700 pounds of CO2 and over 6,000 vehicle trips reduced from our local roads in the first quarter 2014.
     
Choice Connections is a new program that rewards commuters for choosing a smart alternative to driving alone, and offers the tools and resources needed to get started. When you choose a smart commute, your efforts reduce traffic, save money and time, and help the environment. To learn more about the Choice Connections program please visit Community Transit Choice Connections.

 

Bike Month: Success throughout Snohomish County

May was National Bike Month and Snohomish County had a great turn out for the month long activities. Over 1,114 bicyclists from Snohomish County participated in the Commute Challenge during the month of May. In Snohomish County alone, there were an impressive 818 participants in Bike to Work Day commute station celebrations. Thank you for everyone who geared up to join in the Bike Month festivities including our commute station sponsors: Starbucks and Talking Rain! For more information on biking in your community, additional resources are available at Community Transit bikes and Cascade Bicycle Club.

Bike Month Spotlight: Seattle Genetics We are excited to share the success of one of our local employers, Seattle Genetics, who just wrapped up their most successful Bike to Work campaign in 2014. Their Bike Month events at their Bothell worksite include a Bike Month Challenge team that raised funds for a local non-profit agency. Kelly Davis, Employee Transportation Coordinator for Seattle Genetics, shares their impressive story: In May 2014, employees at Seattle Genetics, the largest Washington-based biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing innovative, empowered antibody-based therapies for the treatment of cancer, beat the company’s previous Bike to Work month records by a wide margin. Fifty-four employees biked 6,000 miles in 576 one way trips during the month of May. Participation and miles biked increased 45 percent on average over previous years. In fact, several new participants mentioned how they started biking to work because of Seattle Genetics’ Bike to Work program and several plan to continue to bike to work through the summer. Seattle Genetics boosted 2014 participation through different incentives. The biggest incentive came through the company matching $1 for every mile biked, resulting in $6,000 donated to Gilda's Club Seattle, a non-profit organization providing a support network for those living with cancer - survivors, their loved-ones and friends. Seattle Genetics also provided company branded bike wind vests, onsite bike tune-ups for Bike to Work day participants and gave out $20 gift certificates from a local bike shop to two lucky winners each week. Every year it is a pleasure to see Bike to Work month participation increase at Seattle Genetics, with this year proving just as spectacular.

People Choosing Smarter Travel Options with Curb the Congestion

Curb the Congestion is better than ever with the addition of two new corridors and a new incentive!

Since 2008, Community Transit and Snohomish County have partnered to offer Curb the Congestion, a program that reduces traffic congestion, parking demand and greenhouse gases on local roadways. The program offers resources and rewards to residents and employees who use smart travel options such as bus, carpooling, vanpooling, biking or walking.  We have seen pretty dramatic results over the years with over 2,750 participants removing:

·         Over 250,000 trips from local congested roadways

·         4.6  million pounds of CO2 from our air

·          5.3 million miles of driving alone

This year the program expanded to provide resources and rewards to people traveling on these four congested Snohomish County roadways:

• 128th Street (between Everett and Mill Creek)
• 164th Street SW/SE (between Lynnwood and Mill Creek)
• NEW 196th Street (between Edmonds and I-5)
• NEW Bothell-Everett Highway (between 128th Street and downtown Bothell)

Choose a smarter trip on one of these corridors at least 8 days a month and you could win the following incentives. 

·     Monthly Rewards: Receive $50 a month for three months!

• Continue to log smarter trips to qualify for a $150 drawing each month and earn a coupon for a discount or free item at a local business through our NEW Preferred Partner Reward program.
• Recruiter Rewards: Earn up to $100 a year when you refer friends, neighbors or co-workers.

For more information on the program or assistance with your travel options, contact our Curb the Congestion Outreach Specialist at (425) 438-6136 or CurbIt@commtrans.org.

 

Athena’s story is a great example of how the Curb the Congestion program works!

Athena Parker of Mill Creek first learned about Curb the Congestion when she read a brochure.  She went home and signed up.  

Athena says, “It was nice that I could win but I really started putting in my hours to show that people do use the buses every day and that bus service is a valued thing.”

“When I ride I save myself the stress of driving and I give myself some more time to work. Since I'm a college student, anything that I can do to make my time easier and stress free is awesome. Riding the bus also saves me the cost of buying a parking permit each quarter and gas for my old car. And that saves me around $180 dollars a quarter.”

Fiscal Cliff Bill Helps Commuter Costs A Little Less Taxing

By Laurel McJannet, Online Content Specialist

If you rely on alternative modes of transportation to get to work (transit, train, ferry, bike) and take advantage of your company’s commuter incentive program, you could realize a savings of up to $2,940* thanks to a recently amended federal tax code that was part of the Fiscal Cliff Bill passed late last year. (AKA Internal Revenue Code Section 132(f)).

First, a little history.

According to commuterbenefitsworkforus.com, commuter benefits have been around for at least 25 years, joining health, retirement and disability as some of the voluntary benefits workplaces can offer. Over the years, the monthly tax-free cap commuters could spend on transit has been raised and lowered by Congress. In 2009, it was raised to $230 to equalize transit and parking, which are both covered under the commuter benefit. For tax year 2012, the monthly cap is $240. For tax year 2013, the monthly cap is $245.

The amendment Congress passed late last year allows employers to receive tax benefits for providing certain types of employee transportation benefits. The IRS calls these benefits, “Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefits” or “Commuter Tax Benefits.” Or, as the National Center for Transit Research puts it, “Employers save on payroll related taxes. Employees save on federal income taxes.”

What’s In It for Me?

If you are an employee, you are eligible for this benefit as long as your employer offers it. If your employer doesn’t currently offer this benefit, consider sharing this post or contacting our Community Transit staff (their information is available at the end of this post).

If you are a Washington State employer, you are eligible for a credit against your business and occupation (B&O) or public utility tax (PUT) liability if you provide a commute trip reduction incentive to (or on behalf of) your employees. The credit is equal to 50% of the benefit cost up to $60 per employee per year.

For tax year 2012, employers have three options on how they can reduce their employees’ cost of commuting via public transportation (bus, train, ferry or registered vanpool) or qualified parking for employees:

1. A tax-free employer-paid subsidy
2. A pre-tax employee-paid payroll deduction, or
3. A combination of the above (shared employee- employer paid)

Tax-exempt and pre-tax limits are set by the IRS. The following are the limits for the 2013 tax year, but the effective date may allow for retroactivity back to January 1, 2012 if an employer so chooses:

• $245 per employee per month for vanpool, bus, ferry, rail (all public transportation)
• $245 per employee per month for qualified parking, or
• $490 per month per employee for both public transportation and qualified parking.

When the employee pays part or all of the cost of public transportation via a pre-tax payroll deduction, s/he can set aside up to $245 a month of pre-tax income. The employee saves federal withholding and FICA payroll taxes on the amount deducted. The employer saves paying FICA on the amount deducted. Employees may also share the cost with employers using after tax income.

If you are interested in learning more about how a Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefits program may work for you and your workplace, please contact Debbie Anderson or Mark Melnyk at Community Transit.

* Tax savings are for informational purposes only and are based on upon monthly pre-tax deductions of $245 for a transit benefit. $245 is the monthly cap for tax year 2013. Individual savings may vary based upon income, individual tax rates, state of residence and other factors. Please consult your tax advisor.