Friday, September 30, 2005

H.R.3893 - Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005

There are several sections of H.R.3893 (beginning with Section 301) that could move from encouraging people to save energy to actually helping save energy by funding the groups that help people form carpools and vanpools (and, yes, household carpools count).

This bill was introduced this week by Congressman Barton (R-TX) and says "The Secretary [of Energy] may make grants to State and local governments for carpooling or vanpooling projects. The Secretary may make such a grant only if at least 50 percent of the costs of the project will be provided by the State or local government."

I could see these funds being used to allow state and local governments to cope with surges in demand (e.g., add staff to increase service hours, expand Internet ridematching efforts, acquire additional vehicles for vanpooling, increase outreach to employers to enroll more of them in programs such as Best Workplaces of Commuters(tm)).

Thursday, September 29, 2005

President Bush Directs Executive Departments and Agencies to Conserve Energy, including Carpool, Telecommute, and Transit

President Bush sent a memo to heads of executive departments and agencies that included the following, "All agencies should conserve fuel so we can reduce overall demand and allow extra supplies to be directed towards the hurricane relief effort. In particular[emphasis added], agencies should temporarily curtail non-essential travel and other activities that use gasoline or diesel fuel, and encourage employees to carpool, telecommute, and use public transportation to reduce fuel use."

Furthermore, agencies have to report back through the Secretary of Energy, within 30 days, on the fuel conservation actions taken.

Will the agencies do anything new related to commuting options, especially OUTSIDE the National Capital Region? Most of the commute benefit programs are aimed only to federal agencies "within the Beltway".

Will it be smoke and mirrors? Reporting what is already being done?

At the same time, will TDM agencies use this memo to open doors/enhance relationships with federal agencies in their areas?

I guess we'll see in 30 days.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Do we have any examples of "affinity" marketing for carpooling, vanpooling, transit, and related modes? What marketing campaigns have focused on ties with groups, interests, causes, etc.? What was done, what did it cost, and what results were achieved?

Is there any evaluation (quantitative, before and after, not purely anecdotal) which examines similarities, differences, effectiveness, etc. between information campaigns, incentive campaigns, affinity campaigns, and other approaches?

-- Tad

Thursday, September 22, 2005

TDM and Hurricane Recovery

Transportation issues are the story after Hurricane Katrina's evacuation failures and 2 mph travel speeds on major Interstates as Hurricane Rita bears down on Texas/LA. Who would have thought Americans now know what "contraflow" means. What's next? "Demand Management"?

Even as people begin to hunker down (a term that we Floridians came to know last year), we need to look at transportation needs when these cities begin recovering. Certainly, transit will be an option but we need to demand that communities look at the likeliehood of dispersed home and work locations. We also assume that gas supplies (and prices) may be effected in the short term. We need to look NOW.

More to the point, why aren't transportation demand management agencies being brought into the discussion? And will TDM programs be prepared to help? Do they have an emergency preparedness plan?

Clearly, the devastation that has and will occur will increase demands for TDM programs and services like carpools and vanpools (and telework). Many people may have to live in temporary housing further away from work; perhaps very far away. Many will have vehicles that are inoperable due to water damage (or the fact that their vehicle was last seen sitting on the roof of a building). Their employers may have had to relocate, too. While telework may work for some, not all jobs are teleworkable (is that a word?).

So ... what can we do now? Certainly, ridematching programs and 800 telephone numbers don't require a local presence. TDM agencies on the West Coast could help expand service hours, for example. Online ridematching systems could be implemented.

Will we need temporary protections for employers that promote ridesharing in states that don't already have that protection? Will the feds revise Section 132(f) to allow employers to provide tax free qualified transportation fringe benefits to employees for carpooling and biking, too (like transit and vanpools)? Are emergency ride home programs sufficent? Will FEMA funds be available to help TDM agencies reach out to commuters and employers?

There are many questions to be answered (and apparently fingers to be pointed) to get America moving again. We need to start answering them today.