Monday, October 5, 2015

Loudoun County’s Rideshare Rewards Program Gets Results

Loudoun County Commuter Services is celebrating a successful Rideshare Rewards program. The carpool incentive program, conducted between April 1 and June 30, provided a "reward" in the form of a VISA gift card for eligible participants who carpooled to work.
 
The program was funded in part by a grant from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. Participants recorded their work carpool trips in NuRide, the ride-matching organization, which calculated vehicle trips reduced as well as vehicle miles reduced.
 
The results include:
  • A total of 229 people registered and 202 completed the entire process. Based on 202 participants with 147 of those being the drivers of carpools, there were 1,764 fewer trips taken and 57,015 fewer miles driven during the three-month program. That equates to 20 coast-to-coast trips from Ocean City, Md. to Los Angeles, Calif.  The efforts of all the participants resulted in an average of 29 fewer vehicles on the road per day.
  • Participants worked for more than 60 employers, including the Loudoun County Government, Loudoun County Public Schools, federal and state agencies, and many private sector employers such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Eurotherm, Fannie Mae, INOVA Loudoun Hospital, Lowers Risk Group, and the National Recreation and Park Association.
  • The average trip length was 30.24 miles one way. The shortest trip was .95 of a mile and the longest was 73.6 miles one way. 
  • About 20 percent of the participants switched from driving alone, riding a bus, or walking to try carpooling.
  • One question in the evaluation was: "How often will you continue to carpool?" Seventy-five percent said they would carpool every day; 14 percent said twice a week, and 3 percent said once a week.
 
Overall the participants appreciated receiving the reward for sharing the ride along with enjoying the company and friendship of their carpool partners. The Rideshare Rewards program also helped Loudoun County staff collect important carpool data which can be used for future commuting projects.
 
More information about commuting options, including carpooling, is online at www.loudoun.gov/commute.

 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment