‘Clear the Deck’ tries to improve commute options, Atlanta traffic

Traffic just keeps getting worse, and now with temperatures rising, the smog level is going to do the same. The commuting grind only continues in parking decks and black tops around Atlanta’s work campuses. As the economy is booming, employers are seeking our region to set up shop, but are faced with major commuting issues. Enter Georgia Commute Options, stage left.

GCO has a new, employer-focused initiative called, “Clear the Deck,” their executive director, Malika Reed Wilkins, told the AJC.

“We’re asking property managers and employers to have a fun week where employees do not drive, even if it’s just one day, whether it’s to telework, carpool — take a couple of cars off the road or in the parking deck, and to use that week to see if they can reduce parking consumption.”

Long commutes are annoying, but having to make that grueling, upward spiral to find a spot that barely fits a vehicle and is oh-soclose to the lousy parking job in the adjacent space sends frustration levels through the sunroof. So GCO has seven worksite advisors that are meeting in person with employers to try to get them to change their organizations’ commuting habits the week of May 14-18. “We’re really trying to change travel behavior amongst motorists who drive by themselves everyday,” Wilkins said, also noting that this is one of several campaigns planned this year, including pushes to mass transit and biking.

Rosalind Tucker manages GCO’s relationship with employers and has helped contact more than 250 of them in the area. The worksite advisors or consultants in her department have been meeting with employers and property managers for two months getting them ready for this campaign. GCO has developed a webpage for these different work sites to log their progress and have a competition of sorts. “Some of the employers have chosen to do internal competitions, where they are using their own budget to reward employees for not driving that week,” Tucker said.

One of the big employers committing to “Clear the Deck” is the U.S. Forest Service, which has droves of employees, Tucker said. “For them, it’s really looking at how they can eliminate some of the parking issues and not have to seek out additional parking, which will cost them more money.”

A GCO survey of commuters found that the length of a commute is a big determining factor in what job an employee chooses. So employers have multiple monetary incentives to think outside of the box on teleworking and commuting rewards programs to recruit good workers and keep them.

However, much of the responsibility for improving the commute still falls on the drivers themselves. We talked to both GCO and a successful converted employee a month ago; the driver in that interview switched to MARTA out of necessity, following the I-85 bridge collapse. Then they stuck with it. But, as my column stated then, MARTA numbers are down not only after the bridge re-opening, but year-to-year from the beginning of 2017 to 2018. So not enough people stuck with their new commute option when they had been forced to it.

Wilkins remains hopeful in the overall mission of GCO, especially through this “Clear the Deck” push. “The hope is that employees will love the new commute option, whether it’s transit, carpool, teleworking, etc. — and begin to take advantage of that and begin to start a new commute.”

If you own a business or want to encourage your boss to try “Clear the Deck” next week, go to gacommuteoptions.com/clearthedeck. There certainly are many drawbacks to carpooling, mass transit, and even teleworking. But there are also many benefits. Having multiple commuting options is key to improving Atlanta traffic.