Twice a week at 7:15 a.m., 29-year-old Matt Beer waits at the Route 2 bus stop in North Park for his commute to work on in-office days.
His company, an engineering consulting firm called AECOM, gives its employees $100 every month to pay for parking or public transit. A monthly bus pass costs him $72, so he bought one. Perks of riding, he said, include being able to “zone out,” text his friends or fiddle on his phone doing other tasks.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer to take public transportation,” Beer said.
The San Diego Association of Governments is trying to create more commuters like Beer. This year the regional planning agency increased funding to $2.3 million from $600,000 for a program aimed at incentivizing employers to encourage staffers to skip driving to work and ride public transportation, cycle or carpool instead.
Most of the budget’s increase will be used on assisting employers, organizations and local jurisdictions with kicking off commuter programs that reduce single-driver trips. The end goal: SANDAG wants to increase the number of employers participating.
The money, which comes from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, can be used for a variety of things to cut emissions, including funding bike-sharing and shared scooter systems.
One way SANDAG aims to get single-driver cars off the road is by funding discounted bus fares, encouraging vanpooling and promoting bike-to-work days for San Diego businesses.
Read the full article on inewsource.org.
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