Module 5: Alternative Transportation

Program Implementation

Once you are ready to start implementing your program, refer back to step 5, Launching the Program, in the toolkit’s main guide for general information about holding an effective kick-off event, and step 6, Encouraging Participation, for ideas on encouraging and maintaining participation. Here are some more ideas to get you started.

Educate and engage employees or tenants

Your tenants or employees will make your program happen. They are your most valuable asset. Educate employees, talk up the program, and get the word out. Communicate positively, clearly, and often. Consider these tips:

Use “commute champions.” Identify employees who are enthusiastic about the program and let them help you sell it to the other employees.
Include information in employee-orientation materials. Incorporate alternative transportation options and benefits into new-employee orientation materials and presentations.
Use a variety of communications tools. E-mail, flyers, education events, signage, a Web site, a newsletter, and lunch ’n’ learns.
Create incentives. Motivate employees with contests and rewards for achieving program goals.
Monitor participation regularly. Create a system to remind employees about the program, and praise them for their participation when goals are met.
Repeat. Circulate communications frequently about the commute options program and help reinforce employee behavior.

Monitor the program

Once your program has been implemented, the coordinator and team members will begin the task of monitoring the program. Refer to Step 7, Monitoring the Program, for general information about how monitoring your program and keeping good records can help maintain and earn recognition for your program.

Track results to show the merits of choosing alternative transportation and to help motivate employees. When management and employees see progress, momentum for the program will take off. Achieving your goals, lowering costs, realizing environmental benefits, or improving participation are all opportunities to show off program successes.

Keep track

Track participation in your program on a regular, such as monthly, basis. Consider using CommuteTrak, a free web-based program offered through The Clean Air Campaign that allows commuters to log how they commute each day. Your worksite receives a custom CommuteTrak website and login address. This program gives you the ability to track performance and gauge effectiveness.

The specific information that you gather will depend on your goals and action items that you determined in the program planning phase. Some of the information you may record includes the following:

The number of employees or tenants driving to work alone.
The number of employees or tenants who are taking specific forms of alternative transportation (e.g., carpooling, vanpooling, biking, or mass transit).
The number of employees or tenants participating in a telework or flextime program.

Communicate results

Spread the word about program achievements to the following entities:

Employees. Success is a great reward. Watching the program grow, reaching your goals, and creating benefits will motivate employees to participate.
Your peers. Apply for one of The Clean Air Campaign’s PACE Awards to show off your program and highlight the features that make your worksite stand out above the rest.
The community. Announce the new program to the community (either at-large or within your trade association). Show them the company’s commitment to the environment and your employees’ or tenants’ health. Provide regular updates about program success through media articles, outreach to the community, presentations to share holders and boards of directors. And include the initiative in the company’s printed materials and on its Web site.
The nation. Enter the company’s program in a national competition to bring additional recognition to the program’s best practices and results.

Keep it up

Sustaining your alternative transportation effort will take ongoing effort.

Make it fun. Create incentives and rewards to motivate employees.
Keep up communication. Employee education is an ongoing activity. Don’t let up. Keep it short, positive, and engaging.
Make adjustments as necessary. Things will likely change as the program grows. Build in flexibility.
Communicate. Let employees know about any changes and the reasons for specific changes.
Get employee input. Survey employees about the program. What’s working? What’s not? What would improve participation? Recognize employees who provide exceptional efforts to the program.
Set achievable goals. Reaching goals and setting new ones builds progress and movement into the program.
Include everyone. Ensure the program is not dependent on one “champion” to succeed. A recycling program needs the participation of all employees.

Adjust

How will you decide when to modify the program if it doesn’t appear the goals will be met? Who will make this decision? This step is closely aligned with what goals you’ve set, what your timeline is, and how often you are taking measurements. You will need to judge how long it will take before the program begins showing results, but not wait until a small problem turns into a big handicap you can’t easily overcome.

This need is why it might be useful to take several surveys throughout the year, or to have the program participants self-report. If it does not appear that you will meet your goals, you will need to decide whether to modify your goals or implement additional educational or other measures to increase participation in your program.

If you have thought through this possibility in advance, whatever modification you make will go smoother and faster—increasing your chances of meeting your goals.

If 10 percent is thought to be too high, lower your goal. It will be better for the program to meet a lower goal than to not meet one at all.

Expand

Think you’re done? Think again. Once your commute options program is up and running and all the bugs and kinks have been worked out, convene a meeting of your Green Team to talk about the next steps.