Share The Load Alternative Commuting - Carpooling, Walking, Bicycling - Gives Our Environment A Needed Break

There must be 50 reasons you drove to work alone today:

Day care, the dentist, the gym, the swing shift. You needed stamps, groceries, physical therapy, quiet time. You smoke. Besides, it rained.

Whatever the reason, the 83 largest employers in Spokane are challenging it.

Many offer primo parking spots, free food, casual dress days - all if you don’t drive alone. They’ve built showers, installed lockers, organized carpools. They subsidize bus passes and guarantee a ride home in an emergency.

And if they’ve done what a 1991 state law says they must, their employees drove about 26,592 fewer miles today in Spokane County than in 1992. That’s more than once around the equator - every single day.

In April, the county will review those efforts to improve air quality and reduce congestion and oil dependency. At the same time, each Wednesday in April, the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority will highlight alternatives to driving alone in the Oil Smart program.

Spokane firms have “embraced” attempts to reduce single occupant vehicles, said Katy Taylor, the county’s transportation demand manager. In programs that affect about 23,000 commuters, here’s what promoters have learned:

Most people don’t find another way to work every day, says Terry Besenyody, human resource manager at Pitney Bowes. Many carpool or take the bus one to four days a week, leaving at least a day for errands and appointments.

Carpooling is a highly flexible alternative made easier by Spokane County’s nationally recognized commute trip reduction program. TransMatch teams commuters with neighbors and the county also creates maps to help companies organize carpools within.

Bicycling is an alternative that appeals to health-conscious employees such as Kathy Wiebers, an accounting supervisor at Camp Automotive Inc. who rides her bike 8.4 miles to work once a week and carpools that day in the winter. “It’s energizing,” she said.

Walking. Even when employees cannot walk to work, companies can offer services that reduce the need to drive away: The Guardian Insurance Co. offers postage stamps and a mail drop. Johnson Matthey put in a cafeteria.

Telecommuting can help data entry workers, writers and others avoid commutes altogether. About 6 percent of the national work force telecommutes and that and compressed work weeks (four 10-hour days) are expected to cut commuting even further.

Bus riding. Spokane Transit will offer free rides each Wednesday in April. Many of the 83 companies offer cheaper bus passes, sell them on site and use employee information to help STA plan new bus routes.

Vanpools. Vans from North Idaho, the Spokane Valley and Suncrest have helped Sacred Heart Medical Center use just 90 parking spaces for 300 employees.

For working parents, one of the biggest fears is being without a car in an emergency. A guaranteed ride home program, in which employees often get a voucher for a cab ride home, is the answer. Spokane County, Sacred Heart and others report it is an effective carrot - and used only about 1 percent of the time.

Finding an alternate way just one day a week would automatically cut commutes in Spokane County by 20 percent and bring the area into compliance with the commute reduction law, Taylor said.

“It’s forced me to work a regular schedule,” said one county employee. “The vanpool keeps my family life and my work life in proper places.”

“It’s a ton of fun,” said another, of her four-person carpool. “We laugh all the way in, and talk about work all the way home.”

Companies will have to continue to reduce employees’ commutes by 25 percent in 1997 and by 35 percent by 1999.

It won’t be easy. In the past five years, the number of vehicles and miles traveled in Spokane County have risen. New neighborhoods in the far Valley and North side and popular shopping centers are prompting longer trips.

“What we see is people driving farther and spending more time in the car,” said Ken Decker of the Spokane Regional Transportation Council.

Only half the cars on the morning commute are en route to work, he said. Everyone could stand to link their trips (by doing errands in bunches), use carpools for children and shop closer to home. Keeping your car tuned up and tires inflated will help cars run more efficiently. For more ideas and information on Oil Smart bike fairs and other events, call SCAPCA at 456-4727 or the county at 456-3600.