We need more creative mobility solutions
Writing for the Daily Camera editorial board on Sunday, Gary Garrison noted that a cash reward of $2.50 a day offered through the city’s new Boulder Clean Commute pilot program might not motivate people to stop driving alone to work. We’re not sure, either, but that’s the point of a pilot program.
Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections (Boulder’s designated transportation management organization) recognizes that we need a fullcourt press on all sustainable transportation options — including creative experiments — to reduce greenhouse gases and make commutes to Boulder more convenient, affordable and reliable.
With many Boulder workers priced out of the local housing market and commuting longer distances to work, traffic is increasing to prepandemic levels. Congested roads are an aggravation for commuters and residents. As Garrison notes, it’s also our greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The social and environmental costs of these commute patterns are grave.
The city of Boulder has teamed up with Transportation Connections to experiment with price incentives for Boulder’s workforce to use alternatives to the single-occupant vehicle in their commute to work. The Boulder Clean Commute program will reward commuters who work downtown and in Boulder Junction up to $5 a day, with employer contributions of $2.50 a day ($1.25 per trip) matched dollar for dollar by the city. That’s a potential bonus of $25 per work week, or about $100 per month.
For most working people, that is a significant amount of money. And thanks to a sector partnership grant the Boulder Chamber secured through the Colorado Workforce Development Council, Transportation Connections is underwriting the employer-sponsored matching funds for local businesses in the food, beverage and hospitality sector.
We’re optimistic that putting extra money in the pockets of local employees will inspire many to carpool with a coworker, ride a bike, take the bus or travel in any way other than driving alone. And there is evidence that similar “parking cash-out” programs do work. The Boulder Valley School District has demonstrated this with its Trip Tracker program which saves more than 596,000 pounds of CO2 from car trips not taken every school year.
At Transportation Connections, we’re also working hard with our state, regional and local partners to advocate for more affordable and transitconnected housing in Boulder and more convenient, accessible and affordable transportation options.
We have helped secure millions in funding for the Diagonal Highway, and we’re coordinating with RTD, the city and county to develop a highfrequency shuttle service for Gunbarrel, making it much more convenient for workers to connect directly from regional transit routes to their place of work. Looking for that train between Denver, Boulder and Longmont? Transportation Connections has been working on creative solutions to realize that vision.
It also was Transportation Connections that helped negotiate for a 50% employer state tax credit which businesses and nonprofits now receive for sustainable employee commute investments. That’s right, consider it the mirror image of the Boulder Clean Commute pilot program, subsidizing employers to promote sustainable commute options.
And that full-circle effort is in keeping with our point: We need to try every reasonable approach to improving mobility options for our workforce and community, making their commute more convenient and less environmentally impactful. That is why Transportation Connections works alongside our city and county to advance effective solutions — and even some that we aren’t absolutely sure will be effective but are worth a try. As Garrison suggests, we must be ambitious because “catastrophe is looming.”