A Step-by-Step Guide for Setting up a Comprehensive Program

 1. Select an Employee Transportation Coordinator

 2. Register with Rideshare

 3. Conduct an Employee Transportation Survey

 4. Develop a Trip Reduction Plan

 5. Onsite Transportation Choices Program Presentation

 6. Transportation Information Center

 7. Implement Commute Options

 8. Rideshare Incentive Program

 9. Start a Commuter Choice Program

1. Select an Employee Transportation Coordinator

To make it easy for your employees to know about their transportation options we can work with you to help a current employee handle commuting management issues and questions. We find the most successful programs have an enthusiastic employee on site that helps promote the Transportation Choices Program. You probably have an employee that supports the use of alternative transportation and may already be carpooling, vanpooling, using the bus or riding a bike to work. That person may be willing to act as your Employee Transportation Coordinator (ETC). ETCs are invited to attend quarterly breakfasts to meet ETCs from other businesses and to discuss programs and services enacted at various worksites to help determine what might work at your site. They help maintain the Transportation Choices Information Centers, are available to assist your employees in learning about commute options, and keep your employees up to date on current programs.

The ETC should conduct an employee interest survey to determine which commute options are most desired by employees at the worksite. Use the attached form and either have employees return completed surveys to the ETC for processing or send the forms to Rideshare. The attached form is in MSWord format so it can be changed as necessary for your worksite.

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2. Register with Rideshare

Rideshare keeps a countywide commuter database that helps identify a baseline of how people are commuting in SLO County. Primarily designed to assist interested carpoolers find carpool partners, the commuter database also keeps track of vanpoolers, transit users, bikers, walkers and teleworkers too. Rideshare uses a Master Commuter Registration form that identifies a commuter’s home and work address, work schedule, commute mode and important contact information. All information is kept strictly confidential. If a commuter who registers with Rideshare is interested in forming or joining a carpool, the applicant is sent a list of registered commuters with similar home and work locations and work schedule and it’s up to the commuter to call and make carpooling arrangements. Rideshare encourages commuters using any form of alternative transportation to register with its database so they can be kept informed of special promotions and program pertinent to their commute. Rideshare also stays in touch with every commuter in the database through regular updates and its quarterly newsletter R3 mailed to every database registrant. In addition, registering with Rideshare automatically enrolls you in the Guaranteed Ride Home Program, a insurance policy that provides you with a ride home in the event of an emergency, you miss your carpool, vanpool or bus, or you have to work unplanned overtime.

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3. Conduct an Employee Transportation Survey

A valuable tool for understanding the commute habits of your employees is to distribute a simple survey to each employee. The survey not only assesses current modes of commuting, but also identifies attitudes towards alternatives such as vanpooling, carpooling, riding the bus, riding a bike, and even walking to work. We provide copies of the survey, assist with their distribution and collection, evaluate the data, and develop a Trip Reduction Plan based upon the survey results. The survey gives us an idea of the types of commute alternatives that will work best for you and your employees.

Click here to view a sample survey.

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4. Develop a Trip Reduction Plan

Utilizing information gleaned from the Employee Transportation Survey, the Transportation Choices Program partners prepare a Trip Reduction Plan specific to your business or worksite locations. The Trip Reduction Plan identifies steps that your business can take to reduce the amount of automobiles arriving at your worksite to help alleviate parking problems, traffic congestion and corresponding air pollution. The Trip Reduction Plan is drafted with the input of your ETC and all recommended trip reduction measures are voluntary, however the TCP partners encourage your ETC or upper level management to sign the Trip Reduction Plan as an indication of their commitment to reduce traffic congestion, parking demands and air pollution associated with large volumes of automobiles converging at your worksite.

explain follow-up program by us to ensure they stay on track

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We offer Transportation Choices Presentations at your worksite at no cost to you. We provide you with the materials to promote the event. Based on the results of the commute survey, we can meet with your employees and provide easy to understand information about the benefits of using transportation alternatives and participating in available programs.

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Giving employees access to information about their transportation choices is essential to changing commute habits. They need to be able to compare and evaluate what mode of alternative transportation might work best for them. Employees need to know about bus and vanpool schedules and fares. They need to know who to contact about starting or joining a vanpool or carpool, and where to go for answers to questions about transportation. The Transportation Choices Information Center can be set-up at your office where employees mingle, eat lunch or hold staff meetings. We provide you with all the materials needed for your Transportation Choices Information Center.

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7. Implement Commute Options

There are many forms of transportation available for the daily commute by your employees. Review the Commute Options section of this website for more information.

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A Rideshare Incentive Program is a fun way to reward employees who choose to use alternative transportation to get to work. Find out more about incentives under our Commuter Services section.

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9. Start a Commuter Choice Program

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.

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