Best Workplaces for Commuters^SM Districts

Bishop Ranch Business Park (San Ramon, California)
Buckhead District (Atlanta, Georgia)
City of Aspen (Colorado)
Contra Costa Centre Association (Walnut Creek, California)
Cumberland-Galleria Business District (Atlanta, Georgia)
Downtown Boulder (Colorado)
Downtown Denver (Colorado)
Downtown Minneapolis (Minnesota)
Downtown Seattle (Washington)
Downtown Tampa (Florida)
Emeryville TMA (Emeryville, California)
FlatIron Shopping District (Broomfield, Colorado)
Hacienda Development (Pleasanton, California)
Houston Downtown (Texas)
Perimeter Business District (Atlanta, Georgia)
South Florida Education Center (Davie, Florida)
Stapleton Area TMA District (Denver, Colorado)
Texas Medical Center Area (Houston, Texas)
Town Center Area District (Marietta, Georgia)
University Village (Seattle, Washington)
Upper Valley District (New Hampshire/Vermont)

Bishop Ranch Business Park (San Ramon, California)
Nearly 30,000 employees work at 350 companies in the 585-acre Bishop Ranch Business Park. More than 30 percent—or about 9,000—of them arrive on foot or via bicycle, carpool, vanpool, or one of 60 express buses designed to serve the park's commuters. Commuting benefits offered to Bishop Ranch employees include new employee commuter kits; free BART Express Bus passes; free transit incentives on connecting local and regional buses, BART, and the ACE Train; free worksite delivery of transit ticket purchases; cash incentives to join or form carpools and vanpools; access to a free guaranteed ride home program; individual commute consultations; ridematching and vanpool formation assistance; 7 miles of walking/biking/exercise trails; free shower rooms with lockers in all 30 buildings and bike racks at each site.

Buckhead District (Atlanta, GA)
Since its inception in 1997, the Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA)'s mission has been to work cooperatively to improve mobility, accessibility and air quality in Buckhead. Among the benefits offered to the more than 17,000 Buckhead commuters are: a free neighborhood shuttle from 7 AM to 10 PM, a Guaranteed Ride Home Program, transit subsidies, an employee COMMUTETRAK REWARDS program, preferred parking for carpools and vanpools, and bicycle safety workshops.

City of Aspen (Colorado)
The City of Aspen offers its citizens and visitors numerous transportation options, including free city-wide bus service and special events transportation. The city encourages walking and biking by providing lockers, showers, and a city bike fleet, and offers a car-sharing program for employees and residents. Thanks to the city's programs, traffic volume has not increased since 1993, enabling Aspen to preserve its small town charm. Aspen is the only District that encompasses an entire city and it includes 300 employers and 12,000 employees.

Contra Costa Centre Association (Walnut Creek, California)
Contra Costa Centre, a 125-acre business community located near the Pleasant Hill BART station, is one of the most convenient and accessible communities in the San Francisco Bay area. The Contra Costa Centre Association (CCCA) coordinates several transportation programs for all of the buildings, tenants, and employees in the business park. CCCA supports carpool programs in addition to subsidizing the operation of numerous vanpools. In addition, CCCA organizes periodic events to inform tenants and employees about commute alternatives within the business park. CCCA also offers tenants and employees mid-day shuttle service, access to an emergency ride home service, and an opportunity to participate in City CarShare. Currently, more than 30 percent of employees in Contra Costa Centre are using carpools, transit, vanpools, or another commute alternative to get to work.

Cumberland-Galleria Business District (Atlanta, Georgia)
Cumberland's Commuter Club helps some of the 70,000 employees in the area get to work. The group arranges 38 vanpools, carrying about 350 commuters, and assists in arranging carpools. To formally designate the district in July of 2003, Margo Oge, Director of EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was joined in Washington, DC, by Congressman Johnny Isakson and representatives from Commuter Club and Cousins Properties.

Downtown Boulder (Colorado)
The Downtown Management Commission in Boulder, Colorado, qualified as the first Best Workplaces for Commuters District by offering the Eco Pass, an unlimited regional transit pass for bus and light rail, free of charge to everyone who works in their downtown business district. In addition, the Commission provides a full range of programs such as bike parking, pedestrian programs, electric bikes, and a full-service Transportation Resource Center. The District includes 970 businesses and 9,000 employees.

Downtown Denver (Colorado)
Downtown Denver offers employees true commuting choices that compete with single occupant vehicle use, while reducing traffic and air pollution and improving health and quality of life for harried commuters. First among these choices is the 16th Street Mall Shuttle, offered as a free service to Downtown employees and residents. The Shuttle uses an alternative, cleaner energy and enjoys high ridership levels throughout the week. In addition, the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) provides an Emergency Ride Home program to all qualifying employees. As a result of the combined efforts of the Downtown Denver Partnership, the Regional Transportation District and DRCOG, commuters in Downtown Denver are offered a wide range of benefits and support services, including subsidized transit, carpool matching, vanpool programs and telecommuting.

Downtown Minneapolis (Minnesota)
Downtown Minneapolis provides an innovative benefit to its commuters who travel into downtown via car/vanpool: drastically discounted or free
parking rates. Thirteen garages and lots sprinkled throughout the
district offer discounts ranging from $42.50 to $115.00 per car/vanpool
per month. Well over 5,100 participants are receiving this subsidy,
resulting in decreased congestion and cleaner air in the city center.
Other supplemental benefits in this district include carpool matching, a
guaranteed ride home program, bike racks and lockers, and
participation in a Commuter Choice Awards Program. Downtown Minneapolis also has one of the most comprehensive bicycle lane systems in the nation.

Downtown Seattle (Washington)
Downtown Seattle provides over 250,000 employees and 11.1 million tourists with free bus service through the Central Business District, connecting major transportation hubs including commuter rail, Amtrak, ferry and cruise terminals. Employees are also eligible for: rideshare matching, vanpool subsidy, discounted transit passes, commuter cash, and an Emergency Ride Home program. In addition, Urban Mobility Group was formed in conjunction with the Downtown Seattle Association, King County Metro, and the City of Seattle to support employers and buildings in Downtown Seattle with personalized commute options services.

Downtown Tampa (Florida)
52,000 employees of the more than 1,000 employers operating in Downtown Tampa have numerous choices for commuting to work by means other than driving alone. Vanpool subsidies average $90 per month per rider. Park-and-ride lots and vanpool staging areas help keep traffic out of the city core. Also, a historic replica streetcar system - heavily discounted for everyone working in the district - connects with local transit hubs and major employers. In addition, reduced parking for carpools and vanpools, a Guaranteed Ride Home program, and Commuting Awards help to make Downtown Tampa a prime location for savvy commuters.

Emeryville TMA (Emeryville, CA)
The Emeryville Transportation Management Association (TMA) in California operates a bus shuttle which serves as the final link in the commuting chain for more than 500 employers and 20,000 employees in Emeryville, CA. The BWC District also helps coordinate regional carpool matching for commuters, maintains an extensive commute website (with over 9,000 hits a month), and provides real-time bus arrival information through a telephone system at each bus stop. With an annual ridership of over 850,000, the Emery Go Round shuttle offers employees, visitors, shoppers and residents in Emeryville true commuting choices that compete with single occupant vehicle use, significantly reduce traffic and air pollution, and improve health and quality of life for everyone in the community. The shuttle is one of the few free transit services in the area, linking over 3,000 people a day traveling to or from Emeryville with MacArthur BART, AC Transit, and the Emeryville Amtrak rail station. The shuttle, which began in 1998 as a commute-hour-only service, now provides service from 6am until 10pm on weekdays as well as a weekend service.

FlatIron Shopping District (Broomfield, Colorado)
Three FlatIron mall developers have joined forces to offer a commute-friendly shopping experience. Working with the City and County of Broomfield, FlatIron Marketplace/Broomfield Village Associates, FlatIron Crossing/The Macerich Company, and MainStreet at FlatIron/Coalton Acres provide employees and customers with easy access to public transportation, a free Zip Shuttle from store to store, and miles of bike paths that connect local communities with the shopping district. What's more, all mall employees can receive free regional transit passes. The district includes 275 employers and 7,000 employees.

Hacienda Development (Pleasanton, California)
Hacienda Business Park is home to some 375 employers with more than 17,500 employees and nearly 3,500 residents in 1,550 housing units. Commuter program services include: free use of transit (local trips, regional service, and shuttle connections to rail), transit incentives, rideshare resources and amenities, cycling and pedestrian accommodations, an emergency ride home, and a comprehensive library of commute information.

Houston Downtown (Texas)
Downtown Houston is home to 3,500 businesses, nine Fortune 500 companies, and 140,000 employees in 40 million square feet of office space, and each vanpool rider in the downtown area can
receive a $35/month discount. In addition, employees can walk from
building-to-building or transit-to-building on new sidewalks or in a 6.5-mile
pedestrian tunnel system; receive discounted bus fares; utilize the Guaranteed Ride Home program; and utilize newly added bike racks. Additional assistance provided includes vanpool ride matching and formation assistance. Central Houston, Inc. also provides transit option orientations for employers in the district.

Perimeter Business District (Atlanta, Georgia)
Tthe Perimeter Business District encompasses 26 million square feet of office space housing approximately 4,000 businesses that employ nearly 115,000 workers. The list of employers includes three large hospitals, several Fortune 500 main and regional headquarters, and many small businesses. Employees are eligible to participate in local vanpools, purchase discounted transit fare, use shuttles to the four local transit rail stations, and enjoy the new pedestrian sidewalks and crosswalks throughout the district. In partnership, the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts work to develop the infrastructure of alternative transportation in the district, while the Perimeter Transportation Coalition administers the commuter benefits to employers.

South Florida Education Center (Davie, Florida)
The South Florida Education Center (SFEC) is the consortium of educational institutions located within the town of Davie. The SFEC campus has become one of the biggest generators of traffic in Broward County. Therefore, the schools came together to form the South Florida Education Center Transportation Management Association (SFEC TMA) to help with the mobility and parking problems. The SFEC TMA provides three shuttles to and from all five campuses and connecting with the TRI-Rail station and to the Broward County Transit Bus System. These shuttles are free for over 4,500 faculty and staff, as well as over 20,000 students. In addition, the SFEC TMA offers TRI-Rail monthly passes to students at a 50% discount and to SFEC employees at a 25% discount.The SFEC provides bicycle racks all throughout the SFEC Campus, and plentiful housing in the immediate area near the SFEC Campus allows for many members to be able to walk to campus and use internal shuttles to get around the Campus. Ridesharing information is also available to all SFEC TMA members through a partnership with South Florida Commuter Services.

Stapleton Area TMA District (Denver, Colorado)
As part of its vision for a truly sustainable community, Stapleton has made a community-wide commitment to "green" transportation. Transforming their vision into reality, the Stapleton Area Transportation Management Association (TMA) offers outstanding commuter benefits to all of the area's employees. To recognize this leadership, EPA designated the Stapleton Area TMA as one of the nation's Best Workplaces for Commuters Districts. The TMA provides free Eco Passes to the employees of area employers, as well as a host of other commuter benefits, including holding periodic transportation fairs and providing access to Flexcars.

Texas Medical Center Area (Houston, Texas)
The Texas Medical Center area's 40+ institutions and more than 70,000 workers enjoy a high level of commuter benefits - $35 per rider per month of vanpool subsidy (100 vanpools established as of mid-2005), as well as ridematching, an emergency ride home program and membership in a local ozone awareness program, a trolley circulator service connecting with local transit stations. A local Transportation Management Organization - the South Main Access & Mobility Center, addresses area transportation, parking and mobility issues, and promotes travel alternatives, such as the new light rail system. For more information, visit www.houstonsheart.org

Town Center Area District (Marietta, Georgia)
CobbRides, a TMA located in northern Cobb County, offers outstanding commuter benefits to approximately 11,000 employees. Benefits include a monthly vanpool pass subsidy, ridesharing services, parking at vanpool staging areas, provision of intelligent (i.e., real-time) commuting information, a lunchtime shuttle, and electric vehicle charging.

University Village (Seattle, WA)
University Village is the only open-air lifestyle shopping center in the Pacific Northwest and offers a unique formula of national stores and local retailers. Its 1800 employees receive the following commuter benefits: discounted transit passes, carpool matching, preferred parking for carpools, secure bike parking, showers and lockers, and a Guaranteed Ride Home Program.

Upper Valley District (New Hampshire/Vermont)
The Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont is a beautiful combination of neighborhoods, old farms, protected areas, and a strong arts community. Located at the intersection of two major highways, it is a unique employment "hub" with two of New Hampshire's largest employers—a major hospital and an Ivy League college. In addition, there are dozens of technical and environmental companies which attract employees from as far away as 90 miles. Operating among six towns on the New Hampshire/Vermont border and drawing on one of the region's largest commuter databases, Upper Valley Rideshare provides free bus passes, free carpool and vanpool matching, and free emergency ride home to more than 16,000 employees. It also offers several park-and-ride lots and commuter shuttles to high-traffic areas. As New England's first Best Workplaces for Commuters District, Upper Valley Rideshare helps its member employers expand their commuting programs—encouraging them to offer additional benefits such as parking cash out, preferred parking for carpoolers, bicycle parking, telework, and flexible scheduling.

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