Reducing single-occupancy vehicle use in Northern New England; unlimited access, employee incentives and ridesharing.

PDFTech Report13-010Sustainable transportationSingle occupant vehiclesRidesharingEmployee benefitsPublic transitFree faresOrganizationsSurveysVermontUniversity of Vermont. Transportation Research CenterWatts, RichardBattista, GeoffUniversity of Vermont. Transportation Research CenterUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThis report focuses on the approaches used by organizations promoting sustainable transportation to reduce single-occupancy vehicle use. Transportation contributes about one-third of GHG emissions in the U.S. and personal automobile use is the leading contributor. For example, in the journey to work, about 84% of trips in the U.S. are in automobiles, and 74% of the trips are individuals driving alone. [1]In this research, we identified 120 organizations promoting sustainable transportation in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Participants were defined as organizations involved in sustainable transportation policy, through either having a registered lobbyist, appearing in the news media as an advocate for a policy position, having testified in the Legislature, or presenting plans that promote policies related to sustainable transportation. The organizations also had to be officially incorporated as a nonprofit, business or government agency and have an office in one of the three states. We asked each organization to identify successes in reducing single-occupancy vehicle use and in promoting sustainable transportation policies and programs (e.g., walking, biking, public transit).Thirty-five of those organizations responded, and we parsed these responses to identify organizational focus on reducing driving behavior. In the following sections we present survey results focusing on the three most frequently mentioned programs/policies to reduce single-occupancy vehicle use\ue2\u20ac\u201dunlimited access programs, employee benefit programs and ridesharing