Working with Community Transit to help set up employee transportation programs has paid off for five local companies.

Four Bothell companies — Amgen, Philips Healthcare, Fiserv Health and

the University of Washington, Bothell campus — as well as Lynnwood’s

Bingo King were honored with a 2008 Governor’s Commute Smart Award.

The companies were recognized for helping their employees find alternate ways of getting to work and helping ease traffic congestion in the region.

Amgen received the 2008 Commute Smart Champion Award for its commitment to reducing traffic congestion and air pollution through various programs that has led to 37 percent of its work force using alternative transportation, including 26 vanpools.

Philips Healthcare received an Outstanding Achievement in Providing

Site Amenities Award for providing 29 amenities to its employees, along with a comprehensive Transportation Demand Management program that has helped 20 percent of its employees find alternate transportation.

Fiserv Health received an Outstanding Achievement in Telework Award for its effort to promote telecommuting, with 18 percent of its employees taking advantage of the program.

The UW-Bothell received a State Agency Leadership Award for its efforts in promoting its various alternate transportation programs.

Bingo King was recognized for having 40 percent of its work force using a commute alternative despite having employees that speak nine different languages.

Community Transit has worked with each of these businesses for some

time, holding transportation fairs and helping implement alternative

commute programs. In addition, employees of Amgen and Philips use

Community Transit vanpools to get to work, and employees of all five

companies utilize Community Transit buses.

Community Transit assists 76 employers in Snohomish County and Bothell

to help them comply with the state Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) law by

organizing transportation events, helping set up vanpool and carpool

programs, and providing other ideas that allow employees to help ease

the region’s traffic problems.

The CTR laws applies to all employers, public and private, that have

100 or more “affected” employees who work at a single work site.

“Affected employees” are those employees who:

• Work full-time (35 or more hours/week) and

• Are scheduled to begin work between 6-9 a.m. on two or more

weekdays for at least 12 continuous months at a single work site.

The CTR law also applies to local jurisdictions (cities and counties)

where an affected employer is located, as well as all state agencies —

even if they have fewer than 100 affected employees.

Community Transit operates 33 local bus routes, 31 commuter routes and

DART paratransit service throughout Snohomish County. It also offers

carpool matching, one of the nation’s largest vanpool programs and

offers travel training to disabled and senior citizens. Call Community

Transit at (425) 353-RIDE or (800) 562-1375 for bus information, or

(888) 814-1300 for carpool or vanpool information, or go to

www.communitytransit.org.

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