Southern Californians are known for their love-hate relationships with driving: they love their cars but hate their commutes. Together, the 4 million people who drive to work each day in Los Angeles cause the city’s infamous traffic problems. Being stuck alone in a car at rush hour is bad for the environment and your health. A clean air commute is easier than one might think—even in the city of cars.
The time is now to re-imagine and update our daily commute, and as it turns out, clean air commuting is good for workers and employers alike. The Coalition for Clean Air’s report Getting to work: Your clean air commute is a guide for employers, workers and policy makers. It highlights proven programs that help workers improve their commutes while leaving their cars at home.
So, how did you get to work today?
Read the report (PDF/1.4 Mb)
Footloose and car-free
March 22, 2010
by Monique Lopez
I have been 100% car-free for a month now, and the experience has been an interesting yet liberating one. Truthfully, I didn’t start off choosing to be green in this area of my life; my car chose it for me. I needed repairs that would exceed what the vehicle was worth. I had been contemplating going car-free for some time now, but my car being on the fritz was the universe’s way of telling me that now is the time.
Going car-free has changed not only the way I get from point A to point B, but also the way I consume. At the store, I am forced to purchase only what I immediately need; I can consume only as much as I am able to carry. Having consumption linked directly to my carrying power—instead of my purchasing power—has been an eye-opening experience that has changed my mindset and behavior for the better.
I also save money by not having a car: I don’t have to pay for car insurance, maintenance or gasoline. I often use Google Maps to get directions via public transit, and the site compares my public transit fare to what I would spend on gas if I made the same trip in a car. I am always amazed to see the true monetary cost of driving a vehicle, not to mention the uncalculated environmental cost. Mapping transit or bike trips is easy with Google Maps; you get multiple route options, as well as travel times and scheduled transit stops.
Taking public transit has allowed me to be more productive with my time; I can respond to e-mails, read work-related documents, take conference calls, etc. Moreover, it has allowed me to catch up on my personal reading. These luxuries simply aren’t allowed (at least not safely or legally!) when you’re behind the wheel of a vehicle. On one recent transit trip, I read a great article in the February issue of The Progressive: “Beyond the Green Niche,” in which author Jason Mark speaks with Brahm Ahmadi on green consumerist culture. Ahmadi, a co-founder of People’s Grocery in Oakland, California, really puts into perspective the importance of public transit and moving away from green consumerism to green sustainability.
As a final thought, I leave you some words by Ahmadi: “The way that people have of being green is through a consumerist path. But the problem is the scale of consumption. Is it better to be driving a hybrid than a regular gas-based vehicle? Yes. But is it a good idea for an entire nation to be driving?”
Monique Lopez heads up CCA’s efforts on the Los Angeles solar power initiative and a campaign to reduce pollution from speeding cargo ships. View more of her work on our solar page.
Your clean air commute just got cleaner (and greener!)
December 18, 2009
Today the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District voted 9-2 in favor of its first clean air commuter rule, or ETRIP, which requires Valley-based employers with more than 100 employees to reduce individual car trips made by their workers. Cars are currently the second largest source of smog-forming emissions in the region.
A clean air commute—such as bicycling, walking or taking transit to work—decreases pollution from cars and trucks and improves air quality; plus it boosts public health and employee performance.
With the adoption of today’s rule, employers can turn to CCA’s report—Getting to work: your clean air commute—to find many innovative and effective programs worthy of implementing among their employees.
[...] statistician says: Car collisions are responsible for more than 35,000 deaths annually in the United States. For the [...]
[...] safe biking and links to routes from the LACBC Tips on how to ride and plan your trip from Metro Tips on car-free commuting from the Coalition for Clean [...]
LA Times ran a column one story today about learning to ride–and enjoy–the bus.
“The first time Jacquelyn Carr decided to take a bus in Los Angeles, she felt as if she were navigating a new world…”
story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bus-snob27-2010feb27,0,7122671.story
featured blog at
http://snobonabus.blogspot.com/
I just read No Impact Man by Colin Beavan, which includes this line: “people who ride bikes or walk to work are 24 percent more likely to be happy with their commute than those who drive their cars.”
Citation is a Canadian study by Martin Turcotte:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/2006004/pdf/9516-eng.pdf
PS Beavan’s blog is better than his book: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/
Senate Eyes Public Transit as Climate Change Solution
Federal strategies for tackling climate change are doomed to fail without concerted efforts to keep Americans out of their cars — efforts that will necessarily include a greater emphasis on public transit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Senate lawmakers
[Read the rest of the Washington Independent story at
http://washingtonindependent.com/50984/senate-eyes-public-transit-as-climate-change-solution
I’ve been biking to work, part-way, but increasing. First, it was ride to the NoHo subway station from home then downtown, and the reverse in the afternoon.
Now, I’m riding all the way to work, and increase in the overall miles, but catching the bus back.
Next, it’ll be back to the subway on the way home with the ride home afterwards.
I hope to be riding round trip 3 or 4 days a week by next Spring.
Now, on Thursday’s, I see a friend riding in and have a quick chat on the way!
Kings Co. program helps van riders spare the air
Published online on Friday, Jul. 17, 2009
By Eddie Jimenez / The Fresno Bee
A growing van-pool program based in Kings County, initially started for farm and prison workers, is cutting overall commuting costs and significantly reducing gasoline emissions in the pollution-plagued Valley.
Read the whole thing at
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1543768.html
RE TAX-FREE COMMUTER BENEFITS
More Commuters Finding Relief from Rising Mass Transit Fares, Reports TransitCenter
Recent Boost in Tax-Free Commuter Benefits Saving Commuters Up to $1,000 Per Year or More
Published online on Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009
NEW YORK Thousands of employees are finding a new way to reduce their commuting costs despite a new round of transit fare hikes around the country. Hidden in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — enacted on February 17, 2009 — was a major increase in the amount of tax-free income that employees can use to pay for their transit commutes, from $120 to $230 per month. TransitCenter, Inc., a nonprofit that promotes mass transit use in order to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality, reports a 34 percent rise in the number of new companies who have implemented the benefit and a 25 increase in employee enrollments since the monthly amount was increased.
As the economic recession continues to reduce the funds available for transit operations, transit agencies around the country are having to increase fares to make up the shortfalls. Mass transit fares have increased between 10 and 22 percent in at least eight major metropolitan areas since the beginning of the year. Five additional cities are now holding hearings on their own mass transit fare hikes.
“This is a difficult time for many workers who depend on transit to commute to work or who seek an alternative to the high cost of driving. That’s why the increase in the transit benefit could not have come at a better time,” said Larry Filler, president and CEO of TransitCenter, which had advocated for the expansion of the tax-free commuter benefits provision. “With potential savings of $1,000 a year, employees are able to keep more of their income that they can use to help with the rising cost of other essentials.”
Filler added, “Businesses who haven’t yet enrolled in a commuter benefits program have an opportunity to sign up and help their employees save more of their income despite these fare hikes — while also reaping tax savings for their companies that make the program cost-neutral to implement.” According to TransitCenter’s research, 67 percent of employees believe that companies should take an active role in easing the emerging difficulties of commuting.
TransitCenter has set up an online calculator to help individuals estimate the savings that can be garnered from taking advantage of a commuter benefits program. The calculator is available at http://transitcenter.com/Employees/Save.aspx.
Additional tools and resources are available at http://exercisetheright.com/, a special site that TransitCenter has set up to help consumers and human resources executives with the expanded benefit.
About Tax-Free Commuter Benefits
Tax-free commuter benefits can be structured as an employee-funded tax-free payroll deduction; as an employer-funded benefit; or the costs can be shared by employer and employee. The benefit can be delivered in the form of transit provider-specific passes, universally accepted vouchers and terminal-restricted debit cards, or through a reimbursement model under specific conditions defined by the IRS.
Previously, employers were allowed under Section 132(f) of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Code to let their employees use up to $120 per month of their pretax income to pay for their transit or vanpool commuting expenses and up to $230 per month for commuter parking. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act amended the IRS Code to set the monthly tax-free contribution limit for transit/vanpool to a maximum of $230 per month.
About TransitCenter, Inc.
TransitCenter is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advocate for greater use of mass transit in order to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. TransitCenter engages in a wide variety of activities in support of transit. We are the pioneer and leading national provider of tax-free commuter benefits through our TransitChek® programs. We advocate at the federal, state and local levels for the greater use of and support for transit. Through education and awareness activities, we also promote the essential benefits of transit, foremost among them making communities better places – and more sustainable places — to work and live.
I just reviewed the report, and it is an excellent piece. Latham is always looking for ways to improve our program.
FYI, I have a terrific portable bicycle that I often take with me to avoid small trips. It can be assembled in about 60 seconds and is very light. Frankly, it is a lot more fun than driving.
[...] (and more often than not host) Coalition for Clean Air has released its new report “Getting to work: Your clean air commute.” The report’s primary author is me, Joe Linton, co-chair of [...]
[...] Learn more about clean air commuter options, and share your thoughts and stories here. [...]