Comments on: Coalition for Clean Air Takes a Look at Your Commute

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:27:08 +0000

@all – yay, parking cash out!

@spokker – There are ways to work this out for a worksite like yours. You might want to check out the report section on “per day’ benefits. Parking cash-out can be administered best on a per day basis. You wouldn’t have to cash out a full month; you could get casn-out those days that you don’t park.

@Gary – Good to hear you parking cash-out story. In my review of research, parking cash is out one of the best benefits – it works across the spectrum, promoting walking, biking, transit, carpool, vanpool, etc. Free parking is an inadvertent incentive for driving… as we put other modes on the same footing, they become much more viable.

Joe Linton (report author)

By: Gary Kavanagh

Gary Kavanagh — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:40:09 +0000

Parking cash out produces results, seriously. I got parking cash out started at my work (Sony’s SM Game Studio) in a busy part of business district in Santa Monica. The incentive is pretty enticing and get’s peoples gears turning, literally. Bike ridership has grown from me and like 3 or 4 people who did it regularly to 2 over flowing bicycle racks and people sticking bikes between cubicles and under stair wells. I think as more picked it up it had a snowball effect, and I even overheard someone talking about giving it a try and saying all the cool kids are doing it. One of the guys who started bike commuting it seems only a few months ago is now a full fledged roadie who loves hill climbing and has started following the Tour De France coverage. If we can push for parking cash out to the be standard rather than the exception, I really feel a lot of our other goals will start to fall in place as the demand for alternatives to the automobile will shoot up.

By: Spokker

Spokker — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:22:09 +0000

I wish I could use the parking cash out option. Unfortunately I sometimes have to go to work after hours and on weekends when transit doesn’t run. I could do it, but I would lose money by not working those extra hours.

By: DJB

DJB — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:59:38 +0000

Parking cash out is really important. Employers actually subsidize the parking of their employees. Why not give employees the option of taking cash if they don’t use the parking, or, better yet, why not just pay the cost of parking to all employees as extra salary and let them use it on what they choose?

Making it easier for employees to telecommute where feasible is really important too. If your job involves you sitting in front of a computer all day and there’s a way to monitor what you do, you really don’t have to show up at the office every day. The cleanest, fastest, and cheapest way to work is staying home!