Justice

How Washington State Convinced Big Companies to Dramatically Reduce Drive-Alone Commutes

The state's Commute Trip Reduction program is a model for the nation.
Oran Viriyincy / Flickr

Brian Lagerberg, the director of public transportation at the Washington State DOT, recalls a conversation he had with a large employer in the mid-1990s. The state had recently adopted a law directing big companies to encourage alternative, non-car commutes among workers. In the process of complaining to Lagerberg that he didn't know anything about transportation, the employer mentioned that his company had just bought enough land to create a parking lot for 1,400 vehicles.

"I'm thinking: 'That's a transportation service—you are in the transportation business,' " says Lagerberg. "That was just a conceptual gap people had. 'No, we're just doing this for our employees.' Well, that affects their behavior. You're telling them if they drive their car, you will store it all day. You weren't saying to them, we'll take that same amount of money it's costing us and give it to you to ride the bus or walk and be healthier."