Encouraging bicycling, walking, carpooling, and transit

Here is a summary of programs to encourage walking, bicycling, carpooling, and transit to work, compiled by Kim Baenisch of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition:

* Two Milwaukee area non-profits (the Urban Ecology Center and Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers) have an "Eco-bucks" program. Every employee receives a dollar for each day they walk/bike/don't pollute to and from work. Carpoolers and bus riders get 50 cents. Single occupancy vehicle drivers are left out in the cold. Both employees and employers love the program and find it simple and worthwhile to run.

* Alliant Energy offers $35/month to commuters that bike (or walk) to work. This is a payment that mimics the intention of the Bike Commuter Act that recognizes that, while drivers get parking, and transit users can get a bus pass from the employer, bikers and walkers don't get anything.

* Madison, WI is experimenting with a "Parking Cash Out" concept. Parking in many parts of Madison is scarce and expensive. If an employer provides an employee with a free parking space that might be worth $100/month, the program pays the employees who DON'T use the parking space (because they are walking or biking) a full or partial value of that available space which others can pay to use!

The employer can sell that parking space on the free market and provide $50 (or more) to the employees that do not use the space. These monies can be used for a transit pass or received as a cash-out in the employee's paycheck.

* Calvert Group, from the Washington, DC area has a program where it gives employees $350 to purchase a bicycle.
Check it out here.

* In quiet New Haven VT, one small business has taken a giant
entrepreneurial leap forward in promoting active lifestyles. Stark Mountain Woodworking is pioneering an alternative commute incentive program that is bigger and more widely accepted than anything we've seen to date. Owners Skimmer Hellier and Louis Dupont have instituted a unique "health plan" that offers each employee $1000 to ride a bike to work! Its beauty is in its simplicity: At the beginning of the year, each employee gets $500 towards buying a bike. If they pedal 650 miles to and from work by the end of the
year, Stark Mountain gives them another $500.

So far, employees have widely accepted the plan. 13 out of 14 employees ranging in age from 30 to 59 have gotten on board, and most have already reached their 650-mile goal. Boosts in health, energy, and staff team-building have all come out of this exciting initiative, and Hellier is already planning for next year's incentives. Contact Chapin at chapin@localmotion.org for a free copy of Stark Mountain's health plan guidelines. We'll create a better world one step ... and one pedal at a time.

* In the Washington DC region, up to $105/month is provided to cover the cost of public transit or vanpools; the monies are offered as an employer contribution, pre-tax deduction from the employee's paycheck, or a combination of pre-tax deduction and direct benefit (see more info here).

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