Chamber merges with transportation organization.

Byline: William Morris

Business leaders hope a new partnership will get more employees to jobs, fewer cars on the road, and better traffic and air quality for downtown Minneapolis.

The Minneapolis Regional Chamber is merging with Move Minneapolis, a transportation management organization focused in egress into and out of downtown Minneapolis. Founded in 1991, Move Minneapolis works with employers to design commuting strategies that reduce workers' reliance on single-occupant cars to get to and from work.

Move Minneapolis will complement the Chamber's broader advocacy on issues of transportation, said Jonathan Weinhagen, Chamber president and CEO.

"The Chamber has a long history being a strong advocate for increased investments in transit and transportation, all with an eye to creating more and better access for people to get to jobs," Weinhagen said in an interview. " We saw kind of a shared resourcing as being a really innovative way to do the work together and meet our shared objectives."

Move Minneapolis' three employees have already relocated to the Minneapolis Chamber's downtown office, said Mary Morse Marti, Move Minneapolis' executive director. She's looking forward to leveraging the larger group's array of relationships to connect with more downtown employers to help improve quality of life and employee satisfaction.

"Transportation affects employee retention. When an employee can't get to work in a way they consider pleasant and affordable and speedy, they get kind of sad and you might lose them," Marti said. "The chamber is bringing us connections we never had before, and we like to think we're bringing them a really solid program they can then offer their members."

Move Minneapolis is largely funded by federal...