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SANDAG newsletter
provides information
on key projects & services

Compass Cards arrive!
Get in gear with
Bike to Work Day 2009
SANDAG presents
Diamond Awards

Regional crime rate hits
25-year low
Transit public opinion
survey released

SANDAG Board adopts
stimulus spending plan
SANDAG helps San Diego
Stand for Less
Actions from the March
Board of Directors meeting

SANDAG presents Diamond Awards

SANDAG honored eight organizations and two individuals for their efforts to reduce traffic congestion in the San Diego region at the seventh annual Diamond Awards ceremony on Friday, March 27, 2009.

“These companies make commutes easier for their employees, and they help all of us by reducing traffic congestion, air pollution, and greenhouse gases,” SANDAG Board Chair and Escondido Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler said. “The winners have successfully promoted alternatives to driving alone – offering everything from alternative work schedules, to free transit passes, to special parking spots for carpoolers. They all deserve our thanks.”

Pfeiler presented the Diamond Awards during the SANDAG Board of Directors meeting. Nominations were open to any business, agency, or other organization in the region that has a commuter benefit program for employees. Awards were presented to organizations in five categories, as well as to two individual people. The Diamond Awards were sponsored in part by VPSI Inc.

Below is the list of the honorees:

Program Excellence

University of California, San Diego – More than 15,000 students and 51 percent of employees – or about 9,500 – participate in the university’s commuter program. It offers free bus service to all faculty, staff, and students on routes that serve campus, which equals almost two million passenger trips a year. In addition, the campus shuttle accounts for approximately three million passenger trips per year on its ten routes. Approximately 25 percent of those commuting to campus carpool. There is a fleet of 51 vanpools, regularly carrying more than 300 riders from as far away as Temecula.

Innovation

Naval Base San Diego – There are 1,677 active participants in Naval Base San Diego’s program, which is one of the Navy’s largest transportation incentive programs in the United States. Commuters receive quarterly subsidy vouchers, each command has a point of contact to communicate commuter information, and the program offers its transit subsidy as a fringe benefit program so it is not included in taxable wages.

Innovation

University of California, San Diego – UCSD’s many inventive methods include providing a car-sharing program, subsidizing carpooling/vanpooling, and free bus service. UCSD also supports a bike program called Pedal Club and an Automatic Vehicle Locator system that allows users to check the exact location of a desired shuttle using a computer or cell phone.

Marketing

Port of San Diego – The agency supports alternative work schedules and a Commuter Assistance Program, which provides carpooling and vanpooling resources, as well as full reimbursement for alternative transportation costs. The programs are included in new employee orientation and marketed via e-mail and on the intranet.

Marketing

La Costa Glen Carlsbad – This retirement community in Carlsbad uses reimbursements and a “Green Team Program” to encourage employees to bicycle, take the bus, or carpool/vanpool to work. La Costa Glen markets its program using e-mail blasts, employee newsletters, department meetings, special events, and posters throughout the community.

Ongoing Commitment

Naval Base Coronado – The base has participated in commuter programs in Coronado since 1986. More than 1,500 employees participate, with 428 new employees joining within the past year. The program provides free bus and Trolley passes, alternative transportation subsidies, bicycle facilities, and free shuttles.

Ongoing Commitment

EDAW/AECOM – An environmental, planning, and design firm in downtown San Diego, EDAW/AECOM gives each employee a transit stipend equal to the cost of a transit pass. EDAW also provides shower facilities and bike racks in the office for those who bike to work. Employee participation has reached 67 percent.

Best New Program

California State University, San Marcos – The school provides a free campus shuttle from the SPRINTER rail station to the heart of campus, as well as discounted monthly transit passes for students. The school has a bike lock loaner and locker rental program. In its initial year, more than 250 students and 80 employees registered and are using alternate modes of transportation.

Best New Program

City of Solana Beach – The city’s formal Commuter Policy calls for funding programs that reduce the number of commuters on the roadway and makes Solana Beach a “green city.” Under the program, the city offers preferred parking for those who carpool, participates in the Guaranteed Ride Home program, and offers a financial incentive and staggered work hours for employees who walk, bike, or carpool to work.

Individual

Debra Gutzmer – The manager of facilities planning and client services at SAIC, Gutzmer was key in the formation and implementation of SAIC’s commuter program in 1998, and she continues to demonstrate her on-going commitment to improving transportation in the San Diego region.

Individual

Deb Schmidt – The commuter services coordinator for Cal State San Marcos, Schmidt tirelessly worked to help develop and implement that university’s new commuter program.

For more information about commuter programs, employers are encouraged to contact the SANDAG Ridelink program on the Web at www.511sd.com/ridelink, or on the phone by calling 511 and saying, “Ridelink.”

Project Manager

Deborah Jones, Associate Marketing Analyst
Phone: (619) 699-6988, E-mail: djo@sandag.org