Transportation Management Association (TMA)

Ride-On is a non-profit organization which was created in 1993 to provide cost effective transportation for social service agencies. In 1995, Ride-On expanded its services to include the general public through Ride-On’s Transportation Management Association (TMA). The mission of the TMA is to encourage group transportation to reduce traffic congestion, air pollution, and the need for more parking.

Ride-On TMA provides a wide range of services to the general public: vanpools, Emergency/Guaranteed Ride Home, Safe Ride Home, Lunchtime Express, the HOP, Medical Shuttles, Special Event Charters, Visitor Shuttles, Kid Shuttle (except to school). For more information, contact Robyn @ 805-543-7862 or send her an e-mail.

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Guaranteed Ride Home

If you regularly travel to work by carpool, vanpool, bus or bike, don't worry about being stranded at work. If you get sick, your child gets sick, or find out you have to work late for a deadline, just call Ride-On and they will give you a ride home within 30 minutes. Anyone in SLO County or Santa Maria who commutes to work by means other than driving alone is eligible for the Guaranteed Ride Home Program four times a year. The program is sponsored by the SLO Regional Rideshare Program, SLO Council of Governments, and Ride-On Transportation Management Association. You must register with Regional Rideshare by calling 805-541-2277 to be eligible for Guaranteed Ride Home. When you are registered, all you need to do is call Ride-On Transportation at 805-541-8747 to schedule your Guaranteed Ride Home. The fare is $4.

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Trip Planning

Rideshare can personally work with individuals or large groups and help customize alternative transportation commute trips. Whether it be carpooling, vanpooling, riding the bus, walking, biking or teleworking Rideshare has the tools and the expertise to help you and your co-workers find the right commute alternative versus driving your car alone again. Rideshare maintains a database of more than 1,000 people who have expressed an interest in carpooling. Rideshare provides an online transit trip planner on its www.rideshare.org website and maintains an extensive library of existing transit schedules. Rideshare keeps listings of all transportation service providers for San Luis Obispo County including Amtrak, Greyhound and all airlines at the San Luis Obispo County airport. Rideshare produces a countywide bike map that identifies all bike routes in SLO County for both commuters and recreational bike riders. Rideshare can work with large employers or individuals to help plan commute trips using a variety of alternative modes.

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Mid-Day Shuttles

Ride-On TMA offers several Mid-Day shuttles to help you get around without a car.

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Incentive Program

If you work for a participating employer and you use alternative means of getting to work as opposed to driving alone, you can earn prizes, like movie tickets, lunch and dinner certificates to many fine local area restaurants, massages, bookstore gift certificates, postal stamps, oil changes, car washes, and lots more.  We will send you a tracking form to keep track of your points.  After you turn in your tracking form, a monthly statement will be sent to you for your records.  On the bottom of the statement, you can "cash in" your Lucky Bucks for goodies!  To get started, an agreement between your employer and Ride-On will need to be processed and a registration form filled out by each participant. In many cases the program is free, however large companies with a high number of employees participating may be asked to assist in the purchase of incentives. The cost is minimal due to grant funding secured by the Transportation Management Association (TMA). Call Robyn @ 805-543-7862 for more information.

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When shopping for a new or used car, truck or sport utility vehicle, consider the air quality impact of that vehicle. With California’s stringent emission standards, many automobile manufacturers now offer vehicles that are designed to produce very low levels of air pollution. Hybrid, compressed natural gas, electric, and low emission vehicles running on gasoline are now available in the marketplace. Whether you are replacing fleet vehicles, or if your employees are purchasing new private vehicles, the APCD can offer assistance in helping you learn more about the low emission vehicle options. View the APCD website for more information.

You can have the cost of your monthly transit pass or vanpool monthly fare deducted from your paycheck pre-tax. By paying for your alternative transportation through your employer’s payroll deduction plan, you can save 28-40% on the cost of your commuter transportation. Your $50 monthly transit pass would only cost you only $30. Your $80 vanpool pass would only cost you $48. Your employer will also save money by reducing their payroll taxes for every employee who participates in the program. The program can also be used to reduce the cost for monthly parking plans. The first step is to encourage your employer to set up a Commuter Choice Program at your worksite. TCP will meet with your employer to help set up the program, survey your employees, and provide the forms to make the program easy for your payroll system. Contact TCP to set up a presentation for your employer.  For more information, review the Commuter Choice presentation slides and section 132(f) of the Internal Revenue Code.

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