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.

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.

Doing What We Can to Help the Darrington Community

When the deadly landslide struck on March 22, it wiped out a section of Highway 530 between Oso and Darrington. That was the corridor our Route 230 used to provide "lifeline" bus service to residents of Darrington, taking them into Arlington and back home each weekday.

Flag flies at half-staff outside the Darrington Post Office.

With Route 230 truncated at the town of Oso, we considered how we might be able to serve residents east of the slide. Our CEO challenged us to "find a way" to get bus service to those who previously used Route 230 and those who might now need affordable transportation into and out of the area.

Thus, Route 231 was born. It was the quickest route created in Community Transit history -- three days from idea to implementation. On Friday, March 28, the first "Route 231 - Special" bus rolled into Darrington just before 7 a.m.

This bus takes an 80-mile "re-route" north on I-5, east on Highway 20 at Burlington, and south on Highway 530 at Rockport. Early morning and early evening trips travel directly between Everett and Darrington to help people get to work, or elsewhere in Snohomish County. Two morning and mid-day trips loop between Whitehorse (west of Darrington) and Burlington, providing a link to shopping, medical and other amenities in Skagit County.

Community Transit has also been called upon by Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management to provide large vans to help transport rescue workers to the landslide scene, and families of victims to the shelter areas to visit loved ones. Each day for the past week, 2-to-4 of our vans and drivers have provided this emergency transportation assistance.

We have also let local residents know that vanpools are an attractive option for people needing to get to work in Snohomish County without making a long and costly trip by themselves. At least three vanpools have been created to get people from Darrington to worksites in the Arlington area each day.

At a time of unprecedented tragedy in our community, we are doing what we can to help.

Free Webinar Helps Businesses Learn How an Employee Commute Program Can Help Their Bottom Line

As traffic congestion and commuting costs continue to rise, the way employees get to work is becoming a larger part of how Snohomish County companies do business. The quality of an employee’s commute experience can have a significant impact on job satisfaction, productivity and quality of life. 

Community Transit is here to help employers meet these challenges with a new program, Choice Connections Business, which provides free services, resources and incentives to help develop a customized employee commute program.

Community Transit will be hosting a free Choice Connections Business webinar for employers in Southwestern Snohomish County and Bothell on Wednesday, March 12 from 2:00p.m. – 3:00p.m. The webinar will highlight cost-effective ways to help employees find better commute options that will help boost productivity and improve morale.

To learn more about Choice Connections Business or to register for this FREE webinar, visit www.communitytransit.org/ChoiceConnectionsBusiness or contact a Community Transit representative at ChoiceConnectionsBusiness@commtrans.org or 425-438-6163.

Community Transit Employees Get In the Spirit of Giving this Holiday Season

Community Transit employees got in the spirit of the season in December with our annual Holiday Giving Tree campaign. This year many of our employees donated gifts to 172 residents of the Stillaguamish Senior Center Apartments. The Stillaguamish apartments are located on the grounds of the Stillaguamish Senior Center. The Stillaguamish Senior Center provides services to all seniors that enhance the quality of life, limit isolation and prevent a need for institutionalization.

Hundreds of presents waiting to be wrapped for the residents of Stillaguamish Senior Center Apartments

One happy resident of building 2 was excited to see our Community Transit employees 

Sue Masel, Wade Mahala and Stacey Gunnerson  (L-R)  at her door

Community Transit’s Steve Peters accessorizes with holiday decorations as he hands out presents to residents in building 1

Thank you to all our employees that donated gifts and their time to bring joy to others

Community Transit Staff Give Back

Each year Community Transit employees come together to give back to our community by volunteering our time and donating to the United Way of Snohomish County.  Earlier this fall, Community Transit kicked off our 2013 United Way campaign, Strength In Community, with a goal to raise $45,000 for charity organizations throughout the county.

The campaign kicked off with over 25 Community Transit staff and family volunteers assisted with repairs and general maintenance including cleaning, repairing the barn roof, fence maintenance and moving drain pipe at the H3 Horses Healing Heroes farm as part of United Way’s Day of Caring on September 14.

Community Transit volunteers, Pete Juozapaitis, Steve Winecoff and son Andrew Winecoff mending a broken fence.

In October, the United Way Campaign team held a variety of events to raise money for United Way including waffle feeds in four Community Transit worksites and the annual Community Transit Silent Auction.  This year’s auction received over 100 items donated by Community Transit staff members including a Crepe Breakfast for 10, a BBQ for up to 20, autographed Seahawk memorabilia, lots of amazing gift baskets, handmade crafts and more.  We finished off the campaign with a Prize Wheel and a Grand Prize drawing for a one-night stay at Hotel Max in downtown Seattle and a $75 MasterCard gift card for all employees who submitted an annual pledge to United Way.

Members of the Community Transit United Way Campaign Team serve up 

piping hot waffles with all the toppings to hungry employees.  

Community Transit employees scramble to get last minute bids in the Silent Auction.

Customer Relations Director, Bob Throckmorton, demonstrates the prize wheel.

Thanks to the generous employees at Community Transit who made pledges, gave donations to the auction/prize wheel and came out and participated in our events we raised over $47,250!  That is $2,250 over our 2013 goal.

And a special thanks to our Community Transit United Way Campaign Team that dedicated their time to making this great campaign possible.

United Way Campaign Team co-chairs, Sue Masel and Diane Kinnear, take a moment to enjoy all their hard work.

Employees Host Picnic for Foster Children

By Nancy Lamus, Customer Relations Marketing Assistant

This year, as part of our United Way employee fundraising campaign, Community Transit “adopted” an organization for the first time. This meant that employees were given the opportunity to do additional fundraising and participate in additional events with this particular group.

The organization we chose was Hand in Hand. Hand in Hand is a volunteer organization whose sole mission is to help children who are removed from dangerous or unhealthy homes during a crisis. Children are brought to Safe Place, a shelter where they are cared for until a more permanent placement can be found. They provide food, clothing, health care and a safe, loving environment for these children in need.

After learning more about the group, I personally started to volunteer with Hand in Hand. It has been one of the most rewarding “jobs” of my life. I find I look forward to each and every shift, to care for these children and to spend time with the wonderful people who run this organization.

The employees of Community Transit partnered with Hand in Hand for two events this year -- a Christmas party and an old-fashioned family picnic. The picnic was held last Saturday (July 27). It was amazing! With the money raised from an employee waffle feed, we were able to have games, prizes and even a bouncy house for the kids at the picnic. They were all sent home with a personalized frisbee commemorating the event.

Several Community Transit employees volunteered at the picnic. Games sponsored by Community Transit included a duck pond, a bubble pool, a fishing game, potato sack race, a bean bag toss and many more. Every try won a prize! The joy on the faces of the children when they walked on to the field was priceless.

Community Transit’s own Oxy Gene, Defender of Truth Justice and Really Clean Air, made a special appearance. The kids love Oxy and enjoyed his superhero stories.

I am always amazed by the generosity of the employees from Community Transit. Thanks to our CEO Joyce Eleanor, our work with Hand in Hand has created many memorable moments for all of us here at Community Transit. We have managers, directors, office workers, dispatchers, bus drivers and mechanics all sharing in the work to bring joy to these kids. I guess I would ask: Who had more fun? The kids or those of us who were able to participate.

Thanks to the employees of Community Transit who gave this wonderful gift to the children of Snohomish County!