Good Afternoon Readers,

I wanted to alert you to a very interesting program within the state Department of Transportation that is called "Commute Trip Reduction".  Under this program there is the "Trip Reduction Performance Program", which can be found here:  http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/TDM/TRPP/

There is a wealth of information on that web page that discusses the "how tos" of setting up programs that reduce individual automobile trips by commuters.  The Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) program has been around since 1991 and was passed into law after the implementation of the state Growth Management Act to help reduce traffic congestion.  (Although if you drive around the Puget Sound these days you might wonder if anything really was done).  Nevertheless many private and public employers have provided incentives to employees to take buses, vanpools and the Sounder trains.

Large employers were mandated to do this.  By and large the "low hanging fruit" has been picked.  On the TRPP web page you can see the funded projects for the 2007-09 period.  Some are quite innovative and are all over the state.

However, there are very few TRPP projects that involve teleworking/telecommuting, even though it is highly favored by employees.  Based on discussions with WSDOT folks and others, company management has been the biggest obstacle to really seeing telecommuting take off.  It would seem that the software and high tech industries would be perfect candidates for teleworking considering the nature of software projects, the "culture" of high-tech where work is more distrubuted and doesn't always fit nicely into the standard 8-5 workday pattern.

Having said all that, the legislature added an additional $1 million in the transportation budget that is now in effect for the next two years.  There will be a call for applications coming in early August.  This is a competitive process and WSDOT offers workshops for applicants to help them improve their chances of getting projects funded.  There is no requirement to adopt a telework/telecommuting program for this additional $1 mil but there is a strong desire by WSDOT to see more of this and it seems to me that the tech industry should lead the way in being innovative.

There are some interesting aspects to the TRPP programs where entities can actually "make money" and get bonus payments from WSDOT for either reducing more trips than originally applied for or by coming in under budget with the approved plan. 

The person who can help you and answer your questions is Robin Hartsell, the CTR Program Administrator.  Check the TRPP web page for his contact information and all other TRPP/CTR information.

I encourage you to put a telework/telecomuting project together and apply for funds.  Let's demonstrate the innovation this industry is known for and do our part to reduct traffic congestion.