Alternative transportation for your employees.

• Author: McCorry, K.J.
• Position: GUEST voice

A top green initiative your company can do to significantly reduce its environmental footprint is to provide alternative transportation programs, benefits and incentives to your employees. Implementing employee carpools, bike to work, public transit and telework programs all support the goal of having fewer cars on the road.

Vehicles on the road now account for at least 25 percent of the CO2 emissions nationwide, according to the Federal Highway Administration. By driving two days less per week, the average person can save about 143 gallons of gasoline and keep about 2,778 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in a year.

Not only is alternative transportation good for the environment and reducing our nation's reliance on foreign oil, there are other advantages to the company and the employees as well. Studies show alternative transportation programs improve employee productivity and retention. The average working American weekly spends nine hours behind the wheel. If employees spend less time driving, it allows them to do other activities and tends to reduce their overall stress from hectic, time-consuming and traffic-jammed daily commutes.

Alternative transportation programs also save money by reducing the cost of gas, car maintenance and toll fees for the employee. It also alleviates costly parking fees and the need for companies to find additional parking. Employers and employees can also save on taxes. The Transportation Equity Act, or Commuter-Choice Tax Benefits, allows employers to provide tax-free transit, vanpool and parking benefits to employees.

Here are some alternative transportation programs to consider implementing within your company:

CARPOOL OR VANPOOL

A company carpool is when two or more people share a car ride to and from work. A vanpool usually has seven to 10 people within one vehicle. Employers can help employees form carpools/vanpools through coordinating rideshare matching. Rideshare matching identifies other colleagues who live near each other with similar schedules, Erideshare.com is an online community that matches people within an area to carpool and is a good resource for smaller companies with fewer employees.

BIKE TO WORK

Another way to reduce mileage and encourage employee health and fitness is to promote a bike-to-work program. To start a bike-to-work program, post bike route maps in a...