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Contact:
Mary Chalupsky
203-388-4418
[email protected]
MetroPool Elects Presents Awards to New York Winners Of the Earth Day Race to the Finish & Clean Air New York Champions
Somers, NY—MetroPool, Inc.—the area’s leading commuting solutions company – presented awards to organizations that encouraged employees to participate in the Earth Day Race to the Finish Challenge – in an effort to reduce miles on the road and help the environment.
Organizations encouraged employees to rideshare to work with a friend or co-worker by signing up for NuRide, Inc.—an online ridesharing community—and tracking their “racing” performance. Awards were presented at IBM in Somers.
The Race marked the concluding leg of a 5 million mile Tri-State Challenge that took place from April 1, 2007 to April 30, 2008 in the greater New York/Connecticut metro region.
More than 10,000 commuters participated in the event and shared 138,800 rides resulting in 5,040,000 fewer miles driven and the prevention of 2,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. More than 30 local and national sponsors also supported the events and provided $122,000 in rewards and prizes through NuRide to participating commuters.
When it comes to eliminating automobile emissions and reducing the carbon footprint, every effort counts,” said John Lyons, president of MetroPool, Inc. “What’s great with the Challenge is that everyone can participate – just by sharing a ride to work, to the mall or any other kind of trip.
“It proves that everyone can play a part our global effort to reduce greenhouse gases,” he said. “Everyone matters. Every trip reduced counts. Everyone wins.”
Environmentally-friendly awards designed from green, recycled glass were presented by Dr. Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester to representatives from organizations that MetroPool serves in six Hudson Valley counties that include Westchester, Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, Ulster and Rockland.
Presentations were made in four categories:
Total Number of Ridesharing Trips, presented to organizations that took the largest number of confirmed NuRide trips during the month of April.
- First Place, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in Rockland County with 3,440 trips.
- Second Place, IBM with 2,197 trips.
- Third Place, Westchester County Government with 2,084 trips.
Participation Rate, presented to organizations that had the highest percentage rate of employees who took ridesharing trips during April. To be eligible for this race, employers needed to have at least 25 NuRiders in their organization.
- First Place, Orange and Rockland Utilities with a 70 percent rate of participation.
- Second Place, Northern Westchester Hospital with a 35 percent rate of participation.
- Third Place goes to Ciba Corporation with a 24percent rate of participation.
Total Enrollments, presented to organizations that enrolled the greatest number of employees in NuRide over the past year since the Challenge began.
- First Place, Northern Westchester Hospital with 126 total enrollments
- Second Place, IBM Corporation with 60 total enrollments.
- Third Place, Consumers Union with 46 total enrollments.
Number of new enrollments, presented to organization that had the largest number of new enrollments for the Earth Day Race, covering the period from March through the end of April this year.
- First place, IBM with 30 new enrollments.
- And, in a tie for Second Place, awards were presented to the Resource Center for Accessible Living and the New York Air National Guard, both with 8 New Enrollments.
Honorable mention awards were also presented to the following organizations that merited special recognition for their performance: Morgan Stanley, Bayer Corporation, the County of Rockland, US. Postal Services-Westchester District; Swiss Re, CIBA Specialty Chemicals, Diversified Investment Advisors, New York Power Authority, Cadbury Schweppes, PepsiCo, Disney, Mount Kisco Medical Group and New York Medical College.
Clean Air New York Champions
Awards were also presented to Clean Air New York Champions. Clean Air New York Clean Air New York was created for New Yorkers by New Yorkers to promote clean air that will help everyone live better and breathe easier.
Clean Air New York Champions are employers who go above and beyond the usual activities undertaken by other organizations within the Clean Air New York network. Not only do Champions distribute air-quality information to employees on Air Quality Action Days, but they also help their employees and their communities change their travel behaviors through everyday choices, such as telecommuting, carpool and vanpool incentives, and lunch-in options.
Organizations named as Clean Air New York Champions are: The Journal-News, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, IBM Corp., Westchester County Government, the New York Air National Guard, Consumers Union, Swiss Re and MetroPool, Inc.
About MetroPool
Serving both the New York State and Connecticut Departments of Transportation, MetroPool, Inc. is the area’s leading commuter transportation company. Since 1980, MetroPool has provided employers and commuters with free services to encourage transportation options –car/vanpooling, walking/biking, bus/train/ferry travel, telecommuting, compressed work weeks and pre-tax commuter benefits. Services are available in Fairfield County, Connecticut; and in Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, and Ulster Counties in New York. For more information, call 1-800-FIND-RIDE or visit www.metropool.com.
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