Rideshare 2012

Rideshare Week is a nationally recognized event held the first week in October to promote an alternative commute to driving alone. For the past several years, the iCommute program has expanded the promotion to a successful month-long campaign. Every October, you can join the iCommute team and thousands of commuters throughout the region who pledge to replace their solo drives with new, more sustainable commute choices: carpool, vanpool, transit, bike, walk, telework, or compressed workweek.

Rideshare 2012 Challenge Highlights

More than 2,700 individuals took the Commuter Challenge and pledged to try a more sustainable commute choice. Commuters who logged their alternative commute trips online in TripTracker were included in weekly prize drawings. Almost 300 prizes were awarded, including two new bicycles from Electra Bikes!

Forty-eight companies and organizations, representing 87,000 employees, competed in the 2012 iCommute Rideshare Corporate Challenge. It was a fun way to support corporate transportation, parking, or environmental/green goals and help employees save money on their commute. Here is the list of the 2012 winners for their respective size categories:

• MaXentric Technologies, LLC, Micro Company (1 - 25 employees)
• Parsons Brinckerhoff, Small Company (26 - 100 employees)
• RECON Environmental, Inc., Medium Company (101 - 500 employees) 
• Port of San Diego, Large Company (501 - 2,000 employees) 
• The Scripps Research Institute, Macro Company (2,001 - 5,000 employees)
• UC San Diego, Mega Company (5,001 + employees)

Winning companies receive a commemorative plaque, recognition in a print ad in a regional newspaper and on the award-winning iCommute website, and mention in a SANDAG press release.

The Rideshare 2012 Corporate and Commuter Challenges helped generate significant environmental benefits in October 2012:

• Nearly 300,000 alternative commute trips taken. Most commuters chose ridesharing, such as vanpool and carpool, followed by transit trips, then bike trips.
• 11.7 million vehicle miles not traveled, enough to circle the Earth 471 times!
• 508,290 gallons of gasoline saved, which is almost $2.2 million in fuel cost savings.
• 10.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions avoided; the same amount emitted from electricity use by 396 homes during an entire year.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Commuter Challenge or the Corporate Challenge and for helping make Rideshare 2012 the most successful so far!  Continue to try commute alternatives to driving alone, such as carpooling, vanpooling, taking transit, biking, walking, teleworking, or working a compressed workweek. You could save money, reduce stress, burn calories, recapture some time, and be eligible for iCommute monthly prize drawings.

New to ridesharing? We have all the tools you need to get started:

• RideMatcher is a simple and secure way to find carpool or vanpool partners, or a bike or walk buddy.
• Determine your environmental and cost savings with the commute cost calculator.
• Use the Transit Trip Planner to find which Trolley, bus, or train is right for you.
• Never be stranded with Guaranteed Ride Home. If you carpool, vanpool, take the COASTER, ride an Ex­press Bus, walk, or bike to work three or more times a week, you have a built-in safety net when there is an emergency.

The iCommute Employer Program provides free assistance and tools to companies and organizations in the San Diego region to design and implement commuter programs that meet their financial and environmental goals. Get started today by contacting a SANDAG employer representative. Call 511 and say "iCommute" or e-mail iCommute@sandag.org.

See the official Rideshare 2012 Corporate Challenge Rules or Rideshare 2012 Commuter Challenge Rules

How to Use the Online iCommute Program