During a period of soaring gas prices, SANDAG honored a North County woman as the one millionth caller to its 511 traffic and commuter service – sooner than expected as calls have jumped during the run up in fuel prices.

“As gas prices have gone through the roof, people have started looking for alternatives to driving alone,” said SANDAG Chair and Lemon Grove Mayor Mary Teresa Sessom. “Alternative commute information is one of the free services 511 offers – along with many others, including real-time traffic and highway incident information.”

Sessom and Airwatch traffic reporter Cal Walker honored the one millionth caller – San Marcos resident Cynde Durnford-Branecki – in the lobby of American Specialty Health in downtown San Diego, where she works as a graphic designer.

Durnford-Branecki commutes daily from San Marcos. She rides her bicycle to a Sprinter station, loads her bike on the train for the trip to Escondido, then takes an Express Bus downtown. She called 511 in July to request a bike locker at the Escondido train station and ended up being the one millionth caller.

SANDAG and 511 gave Durnford-Branecki a plaque commemorating the call. She also received a gift basket, including a $250 REI gift certificate, a comprehensive bike maintenance class at REI, two VIP passes to the San Diego Natural History Museum, two passes to the Maritime Museum of San Diego, two meal passes to Souplantation, one round-trip trip to and from the San Diego airport for two from Cloud 9, and various 511 logo items.

Launched by SANDAG and its partners in February 2007, it took the 511 service just 18 months to process one million phone calls. The pace increased as gas prices began climbing in March, eventually hitting $5 a gallon before declining slightly.

During the first quarter of this year, a total of about 230,000 people called 511. In the second quarter, that number jumped to 272,000. One of the biggest increases was in people inquiring about public transportation, which jumped 26 percent to 43,000 callers. Over the same time period, calls increased by 17 percent to RideLink, a SANDAG service for commuters interested in alternative commute choices and employers interested in offering commuter benefits programs.

San Diego’s regional 511 system is part of a national effort. Since it began approximately six years ago in the Cincinnati area, the program has taken hold in 43 communities nationwide, offering 128 million Americans the service – nearly half the population of the country.

As of May, 112 million people had called into the service for information nationwide. In May alone, 2.4 million people nationwide called 511 for transportation information.

Our local 511 service stems from a collaborative partnership among SANDAG, California Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Transit System, North County Transit District, California Highway Patrol, and San Diego County Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE).