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Commuter programs win awards for Metro and partners
The Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) handed out its national awards last week in Washington, D.C., and King County Metro Transit and partner agencies took home some of the top honors.
Metro Transit’s Rideshare Operations won the prestigious Renovation Award for demonstrating an innovative and creative rejuvenation of an existing program. In this case, Metro updated its orientation program for new vanpool participants by putting the former half-day classroom session totally online to get more van groups on the road more quickly.
Metro received the prestigious award last week from the Association for Commuter Transportation. | The University of Washington received an ACT Leadership Award for innovation and contributions to the field of Transportation Demand Management. The UW’s transportation features include: the U-PASS program which provides free Metro and Sound Transit bus and commuter train fare, discounted carpooling, subsidized vanpooling, and an array of merchant discounts; more than 500 secure bicycle locker spaces on campus; a partnership with ZipCar for carsharing; and special bus service for Husky football games to reduce congestion around the stadium on game days.
TransManage, a service of the Bellevue Downtown Association, was named as the 2009 Outstanding Transportation Management Association (TMA) by ACT. Established in 1986 as one of the first TMAs in the country, TransManage works in partnership with property managers, the city of Bellevue, Metro, the Washington State Department of Transportation, and several other local transportation organizations to promote commuting options that reduce drive-alone trips.
“These three awards show that our region continues to be a leader in providing innovative, multi-modal options for commuters,” said Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond. “Much of this effort started 30 years ago, when our vanpool program debuted. Today, it is still a national model, and it has been the inspiration for new programs providing even more choices that make it easy for people to leave their cars at home and share the ride to work.”
The popularity of the vanpool program – particularly in recent years as gas prices escalated – created a need to revamp some of the logistics of signing up new participants.
Each new commuter van group formed requires a minimum of two new drivers and a bookkeeper. There was a 207 percent increase in new van formations between 2004 and 2008, which meant the demand for orientation classes was tremendous. In 2008, more than 1,500 participants went through the orientation.
The initial solution was to increase the number of classes offered. More classes meant more instructors were needed, more classroom space had to be secured, and other associated costs rose. And, it did nothing to address customer needs for flexibility.
Formation of new vanpools has soared in the past few years. | To address all the challenges presented by a growing program, the decision was made to develop and provide a web-based orientation as an alternative to attending the classroom orientation.
“By leveraging today’s technology tools to address all the challenges, we are breathing new life into an established program in a way that allows us to also manage continued growth into the future,” said Rideshare Operations Supervisor Syd Pawlowski.
The new online orientation was launched in March of this year. In the first three months, it resulted in 373 vanpool drivers and 94 bookkeepers. And by not holding classroom sessions, Metro saved over $12,000 in associated expenses.
Originally, the staff had hoped to reduce the number of orientation classes by 75 percent. But, Pawlowski said the online orientation has been so popular, that it has replaced all classroom sessions.
He also said the individual feedback from participants has been great. The first 65 “graduates” were asked to provide open-ended feedback regarding the orientation and whether they like or dislike it. Every single response was favorable. And, major employers say they are finding that it’s been a real motivator to help employees take advantage of alternatives to single occupancy vehicle commuting.
This weekend brings three times the fun for football fans, as the Huskies, Cougars and Seahawks all host games in Seattle. Beat the crowds by riding the bus or sharing a ride to the stadium.
First up on Saturday, are the University of Washington Huskies with a 12:30 p.m. kickoff against the Idaho Vandals at Husky Stadium. The Huskies are offering free bus service to the stadium from eight park-and-ride lots, and any trip on Metro to the stadium is free when you show your game ticket.
Then Saturday at 4 p.m., the Washington State Cougars travel over the mountains to host University of Hawaii at Qwest Field for their annual Cougar Gridiron Classic.
And on Sunday at 1 p.m., the Seahawks host the St. Louis Rams in the regular season opener at Qwest Field.
For the games at Qwest Field, Metro has many routes that stop at or near the stadium. Use the online Trip Planner to look up the routes and times that work best for you.
King County is building a new Bandaret Bridge on Southeast May Valley Road to replace the old span. Work will continue through October.
| There will be two road closures in East King County this weekend that could cause delays for motorists and lengthy detours.
Crews will be pouring the concrete deck on the new Bandaret Bridge this weekend, which will result in the closure of Southeast May Valley Road just west of Issaquah-Hobart Road from 6 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12 to 10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13. Motorists wishing to detour around the area should also be aware that there will be lane closures and delays on State Route 900 southeast of Issaquah from Sept. 11-14.
Once the concrete cures, the county has approximately six more weeks of work until the new bridge will be open to traffic.
Also this weekend, the Preston-Fall City Road will be closed from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 p.m. Sunday at 328th Way Southeast. During this time, crews will be stabilizing the slope between the roadway and the Raging River. Motorists can detour via 328th Way Southeast, Issaquah-Fall Road, 332nd Avenue Southeast, and State Route 203.
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