In 1990, the Clean Air Act was passed, with its amendments that mandated the creation of the Employee Commute Option. Its goal was relatively simple. All companies with 100 or more employees were required to reduce by 25 percent the number of vehicle miles that their workers traveled during their morning rush hour. This was to be accomplished through vanpools, working from home via computer, transit subsidies, or other means (Stranahan 130).
A successful employer trip-reduction program might include incentives to rideshare or take transit, and disincentives to commuters who drive alone. Employers can provide preferential parking for vanpool and carpool vehicles, or direct financial incentives. For example, carpoolers could go through an express line in the company cafeteria ("At Issue" 401).
A successful program will be difficult as long as there are so many strong incentives to drive alone. This is because at least 90 percent of U.S. commuters who drive alone pay nothing for parking. Employer-paid parking actually encourages solo driving to work. Studies have shown that on average, employee-paid parking shifts 27 percent of all commuters into solo driving from other modes. However, employee-paid parking obviously represents a cost to the employer. Analysts in Sacramento, California, estimated that an average company there spends $10,000 to $15,000 for the construction and maintenance of a parking space for over 20 years, which is more than the cost of supplying employees with free transit passes ("At Issue" 401).
One way to encourage the reduction of employee solo driving would be to link the elimination of employee parking to a travel allowance for all workers. Employers could pay each worker a travel allowance of, for example, $75 per month and charge $75 per month for parking that formerly was free. According to a statistical model of 5,000 commuters and employers, offering the option of a cash travel allowa...