Ordinance 1925-93 - Laserfiche WebLink

• Service-Based Programs Ridematching Services - Achieving commute trip reduction performance objectives in Snohomish County will depend to a large extent on shifting persons from SOVs to carpools. More than transit, vanpooling, or the other service-based programs, the rideshare mode has the potential to significantly reduce commute trips. Statistically, the odds are simply much higher that a group of 2-3 persons (enough for a carpool) as opposed to a group of 7-13 persons (enough for a vanpool) or a group of 25-45 persons (enough for a bus) will live within a few blocks of one another and commute to the same general location at the same times. Incentives to facilitate ridesharing include preferential parking locations, subsidized parking stalls, guaranteed ride home, and flexible start/end work times. For instance, employers can offer carpoolers free parking stalls closest to the building and allow persons carpooling to slide their 8-hour workdays forward or backwards by 15-30 minutes. The guaranteed ride home programs provide for free taxi rides home for carpoolers who have to go home in the middle of the day because of unforeseen circumstances, thus eliminating the need by commuters to have their own cars at work in case of emergencies. Background of Employer Rideshare Efforts-Employer involvement in ridesharing dates back to voluntary efforts during World War II to conserve rubber, oil, and gasoline. After the war there was no need for such efforts until the first Arab oil embargo in 1973-1974 during which employer rideshare programs were an important part of the effort to provide commuters with alternatives. The National Demonstration Program was an ambitions $3.5 million dollar project to evaluate 17 regional rideshare programs. While the project fell short of achieving its ambitious goals it nevertheless provided some significant conclusions: • Careful design and adequate funding are necessary to make a rideshare program work. • Parking pricing was moderately effective in areas with poor transit service like suburban activity centers. • Regional rideshare programs had little effect overall on reducing SOV trips on a regional level. In 1990, Erik Ferguson of the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted a major study of employer rideshare programs in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. One of his most significant findings was that personalized "in-house" ridematching worked very well for employers of all sizes. Furthermore personalized ridematching was cost effective with average costs ranging from $400 per year for firms of 100 employees to $2000 per year for firms of 1,000 employees. Personalized ridematching refers to "in-house" employer programs in which transportation coordinators actively attempt to match employees who wish to rideshare. The success of 24