Green Your Travel and Commuting
Your business and your employees can save money and reduce your impact on the climate by changing the way you travel and commute.
Provide commute options for your employees
Helping your employees put fewer miles on their cars will help curb pollution, reduce congestion (a major economic drain), and reduce the stress associated being stuck in traffic. A happy employee is a productive employee! We suggest promoting small steps – “Don’t Drive One in Five” or “Join the Once a Week Club” are catchphrases for encouraging employees to leave the car at home just once a week. This can be less daunting than giving up solo car commutes altogether.
Popular employee commute programs include:
- rideshare matching
- transit subsidies and pretax benefits [PDF 738 KB] for using transit or ridesharing; contact your local transit agency for information
- preferential parking for carpools and vanpools
- cash in lieu of free parking
- compressed workweeks (e.g., four 10 hour days instead of five 8 hour days)
- telecommuting
- Flexcar business membership
- Support for bicycling and walking commutes
- guaranteed rides home [PDF: 312 KB] for personal emergencies for staff members who don’t drive to work
- if you have several business locations, matching employees to the location closest to their home
- if you plan to move your business, consider a location near transit, with good walking and biking opportunities
Many of these programs offer big rewards – for example, Sun Microsystems estimated $60 million in energy savings by utilizing a system that allowed their employees to take advantage of working from home.
Transportation Management Associations have been created in the Portland metro region to help employers design employee commute option programs. Find links to these associations and other resources that can help you no matter where you do business in Oregon at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Employee Commute Options resource page.
The Oregon Department of Energy offers Business Energy Tax Credits for a variety of employee commute programs.
Drive Less. Save More. offers great resources on travel savvy practices. While it's focused primarily on the Portland/Vancouver metro area, it also links to resources around the state.
Best Workplaces for Commuters has many great resources for implementing commuter benefits program, including information on financial benefits for employers, and provides national recognition to employers offering outstanding commuter benefits. Qualified employers get on the list of Best Workplaces for Commuters — a fast growing mark of excellence in environmental leadership.
Commuter Choice is another rich source of information and tools.
