Module 5: Alternative Transportation

Program Planning

The steps for planning an alternative transportation program are similar to those you would take when planning any other type of environmental program. Key elements to your success are the full support of upper management and a high level of participation by employees or tenants.

Secure support and resources

Whether this is your first effort at an environmental program, or simply a new campaign, you must ensure that you have support from upper management. Before going to management, arm yourself with information and data that shows the program’s value.

Target the appropriate decision-maker. Who can make the program happen?
Focus on how the program will benefit both employees or tenants (e.g., savings in gas and vehicle maintenance) and the company (e.g., tax incentives).
Bring the results of employee or tenant surveys that show support for or interest in the program.
Include brief descriptions of available options, if you have assembled such a list.
Request that one individual from the Green Team be assigned responsibility for the program as transportation coordinator.
Get the support of other leaders in the company or building to help champion your program.
Get support for the effort in writing. Draft an alternative transportation policy and plan and ask upper management to review, adopt, and sign them.
Include specific, actionable commitments in your policy, such as a 10 percent reduction in the number of solo commuters.

Set goals

What are your overall goals for the program? A goal should be well-defined, achievable, and measurable. You also should include a time factor in each goal, if possible. Here are some examples:

Decrease by 10 percent the number of employees or tenants who drive to work alone during this calendar year.
Increase the number of employees or tenants who carpool, vanpool or take mass transit by this time next year.
Win one of The Clean Air Campaign’s PACE Awards this year.
Establish a teleworking (or flextime) option by next January.
Hold a transportation fair once a year.
Join The Clean Air Campaign next week.
Install bike racks by a given date.
Include specification language preferring the purchase of hybrid vehicles for the company fleet by the next bid cycle.
Include specification language preferring the purchase of re-refined motor oil and recycled antifreeze for the company fleet by the next bid cycle.

Choose measurements

Each goal you set for the program will need a measure of success associated with it. How else will you know if you have met your goal?

What you measure will, of course, depend on your goals. For the first bullet above, “Decrease by 10 percent the number of employees or tenants who drive to work alone during this calendar year,” you will need to determine how many of your employees or tenants are driving to work alone. You can make this determination through a simple survey sent by e-mail. The survey can be repeated at the end of the year to determine if the goal has been met. (You may want to consider sending several surveys throughout the year to gauge your program’s progress.)

Another way to take this measurement is to have the employees self-report. For example, some businesses include a space on their timesheets where employees record their daily commute method. This option would allow you to gather more data over a longer period and allow you a weekly or biweekly look at how well the program is operating. If the number of telecommuters suddenly drops, you can react more quickly to repair the program and increase the chances of still meeting your goal.

Create and assign action items

For each goal, you’ll also need to create one or more action items that must be accomplished in order to meet the goal. For example, for the first bullet under Set Goals, “Decrease by 10 percent the number of employees or tenants who drive to work alone during this calendar year,” you might have the following action items:

Hold a transportation fair.
Join The Clean Air Campaign.
Post program flyers in building(s).
Re-survey employees or tenants at end-of-year.

Be sure to give each action item a due date, and assign a team member responsible for its completion. A simple planning document is one way to keep track of your action items.

Identify options

Before promoting alternative transportation options to your tenants or employees, you first must find out what opportunities are available. In addition to determining, for example, if there is a bus stop near your building, check to see if there are any existing policies (formal or otherwise) that might encourage or discourage employees or tenants from using each option. For example, it may cost employees more to purchase a mass-transit card than it does to park. If so, your company could decide to subsidize all or part of the cost of mass-transit cards. In the Identifying Options section, you’ll learn about opportunities you may be able to include in your plan.