• Commuter Choice Kicks Off With Three-City Summit As Coalition Grows
  
  
• ConnDOT announces program to help save employees from a taxing commute.
  
  
• Westchester County launches extensive study of its transit operations.
  
  
• Pitney Bowes and MetroPool create a winning team to combat congestion.
  
  
• OSHA examines and defines telework guidance.
  
  

  A look at a creative commuter incentive program in Silver Spring Maryland.

Metropool provides free services with the support of the Connecticut and New York State Departments of Transportation

Media Cybernetics Emplyees Cash-In On Their Commute

New York/Connecticut employers might find some comfort in knowing they're not alone as they seek solutions to traffic congestion. Several hours south, the Washington, D.C. area wrestles with its own gridlock. To generate helpful ideas there, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) spotlights employers who go the extra mile in getting employees to use alternatives to solo commuting, such as Silver Spring, Maryland-based Media Cybernetics. They received the Council of Governments' 1999 Commuter Connections Employer Recognition Awards. It was one of only three employers in the Washington region singled out for an award by MWCOG.

Founded in 1981 to provide image analysis software for the biotech and industrial R&D; communities, Media Cybernetics started its commuter incentives program in 1988. The company strives to help its 55 employees achieve the lowest possible commuting costs and the highest possible use of non-drive-alone commute options. Media Cybernetics' Human Resources Manager, Pamela Borden, has coordinated the program since 1994. She explained that the company's top management supported the incentive as part of Media Cybernetics' overall benefits package. Media Cybernetics gives employees $40 each month for commuting, then strongly encourages them to use that subsidy for mass transit or ridesharing. Thanks to the incentive, some employees actually have a commuting cost of zero.

Nearly 80 percent of the company's employees use alternative modes of transportation, including walking, bicycling, car/vanpooling, and public transportation. Close to half carpool, and about 25 percent use transit. A significant number of employees live close by and walk to work, Borden said. The program has meant commute time savings of 15 to 30 minutes for participating employees and the elimination of around 5,700 vehicle trips annually to and from downtown Silver Spring - which benefits everyone in the area.

What advice would Borden give other employers looking to offer incentives? "Employees appreciate it," she said. "The incentives put more money in their pocket, plus it's good for the air and environment."