U.S. 36 deal pays to not drive solo
By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published June 19, 2008 at 10:02 p.m.
It's sort of like a reverse toll: They pay you to get to work and back.
But the hitch is this: You have to get out of your solo-driver car and commute some other way.
Solo drivers on U.S. 36 are being invited to join a pilot program that would pay them $3 a day, up to a maximum of $180, every day they carpool, take a bus, ride a bicycle or even crawl to work instead of contributing to the clog on U.S. 36.
Participants enroll for a 90-day period, and the program will enroll up to 665 commuters over two years. To be eligible, commuters must use U.S. 36 for part of their drive to work and have driven solo for at least the last 30 days.
The program, 36 Commuter Cash, is a pilot modeled after one in Atlanta that saw 64 percent of the participants shunning solo driving up to a year after the program ended.
Audrey DeBarros, executive director of the corridor's nonprofit transportation advocacy group, 36 Commuting Solutions, said the goal of the two-year pilot program is to reduce vehicle miles by 15 million.
Nearly four out of five commuters on U.S. 36 drive alone, a study last year found.
"It's a perfect storm with . . . people looking for ways to reduce the pressure at the pump," DeBarros said. "We're trying to do long-term change and show people over 90 days that you can use transit or car pool or bike to work, and that they can continue it beyond the compensation period."
To sign up for the program, visit 36commutingsolutions.org.
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June 20, 2008
1:34 p.m.
Suggest removal
JustSayin writes:
reporter - where's the money coming from? The advocacy group 36 Commuting Solutions has to get it from someone/somewhere. Is it from taxpayers? Donations? Just some basic facts, please.