Diamond Awards

Does your commuter program sparkle? Apply for a Diamond Award now.

The Diamond Awards honor companies, organizations, and individuals for their outstanding contributions to relieving traffic congestion, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving mobility in the San Diego region.

Diamond Award-winning organizations promote alternatives to driving alone including vanpooling, carpooling, use of public transit, teleworking, flexible scheduling, walking, biking, or a combination of these. Some organizations also provide incentives, subsidies, or pre-tax deductions to their employees to support their participation in eligible programs.

Many ways to shine in 2010. Nominations now being accepted.

The SANDAG iCommute program is inviting nominations for its 8th annual Diamond Awards recognizing San Diego County businesses that go the extra mile to help reduce traffic congestion.  There are five different nomination categories. Each applicant may apply for a maximum of two categories.

• Program Excellence: For overall program implementation and success
• Innovation: New solutions to employer transportation challenges
• Marketing: Creative outreach effort to employees
• Ongoing Commitment: Program has been sustained for three or more years
• Best New Program: A new submittal for a Diamond Award or a program that has been implemented within the last two years

In addition to the five categories, individuals can also be nominated for their exemplary support of a local transportation demand program.

Nomination Process

Diamond Awards are open to all businesses, organizations and public or private agencies that maintain an employee transportation program in San Diego County.  Self-nomination is encouraged.  Up to two winners may be named in each category. Winners will be selected based on the information submitted on the nomination form (one applicant per form please). 

Nomination forms are due by 4 p.m., February 12, 2010 by fax, e-mail, or mail.  For more information about Diamond Awards, call 511 and say 'iCommute' or email icommute@sandag.org.

Download the application now

2009 Diamond Award Winners

SANDAG honored eight organizations and two individuals for their efforts to reduce traffic congestion in the San Diego region at the seventh annual Diamond Awards ceremony held March 2009 at a SANDAG Board of Directors meeting.

“These companies make commutes easier for their employees, and they help all of us by reducing traffic congestion, air pollution, and

greenhouse gases,” SANDAG Board Chair and Escondido Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler said. “The winners have successfully promoted alternatives to driving alone – offering everything from alternative work schedules, to free transit passes, to special parking spots for carpoolers. They all deserve our thanks.”

Nominations were open to any business, agency, or other organization in the region with a commuter benefit program for employees. Awards were presented to organizations in five categories, as well as to two individual people. The Diamond Awards were sponsored in part by VPSI Inc.

Below is the list of the honorees:

• Program Excellence: University of California, at San Diego – More than 15,000 students and 51 percent of employees – or about 9,500 – participate in the university’s commuter program. It offers free bus service to all faculty, staff, and students on routes that serve campus, which equals almost two million passenger trips a year. In addition, the campus shuttle accounts for approximately three million passenger trips per year on its ten routes. Approximately 25 percent of those commuting to campus carpool. There is a fleet of 51 vanpools, regularly carrying more than 300 riders from as far away as Temecula.
• Innovation: Naval Base San Diego – There are 1,677 active participants in Naval Base San Diego’s program, which is one of the Navy’s largest transportation incentive programs in the United States. Commuters receive quarterly subsidy vouchers, each command has a point of contact to communicate commuter information, and the program offers its transit subsidy as a fringe benefit program so it is not included in taxable wages.
• Innovation: University of California, at San Diego – UCSD’s many inventive methods include providing a car-sharing program, subsidizing carpooling/vanpooling, and free bus service. UCSD also supports a bike program called Pedal Club and an Automatic Vehicle Locator system that allows users to check the exact location of a desired shuttle using a computer or cell phone.
• Marketing: Port of San Diego – The agency supports alternative work schedules and a Commuter Assistance Program, which provides carpooling and vanpooling resources, as well as full reimbursement for alternative transportation costs. The programs are included in new employee orientation and marketed via e-mail and on the intranet.
• Marketing: La Costa Glen Carlsbad – This retirement community in Carlsbad uses reimbursements and a “Green Team Program” to encourage employees to bicycle, take the bus, or carpool/vanpool to work. La Costa Glen markets its program using e-mail blasts, employee newsletters, department meetings, special events, and posters throughout the community.
• Ongoing Commitment: Naval Base Coronado – The base has participated in commuter programs in Coronado since 1986.More than 1,500 employees participate, with 428 new employees joining within the past year. The program provides free bus and Trolley passes, alternative transportation subsidies, bicycle facilities, and free shuttles.
• Ongoing Commitment: EDAW/AECOM – An environmental, planning, and design firm in downtown San Diego, EDAW/AECOM gives each employee a transit stipend equal to the cost of a transit pass. The company also provides shower facilities and bike racks in the office for those who bike to work. Employee participation has reached 67 percent.
• Best New Program: California State University, San Marcos – The school provides a free campus shuttle from the SPRINTER rail station to the heart of campus, as well as discounted monthly transit passes for students. The school has a bike lock loaner and locker rental program. In its initial year, more than 250 students and 80 employees registered and are using alternate modes of transportation.
• Best New Program: City of Solana Beach – The city’s formal Commuter Policy calls for funding programs that reduce the number of commuters on the roadway and makes Solana Beach a “green city.” Under the program, the city offers preferred parking for those who carpool, participates in the Guaranteed Ride Home program, and offers a financial incentive and staggered work hours for employees who walk, bike, or carpool to work.
• Individual: Debra Gutzmer – The manager of facilities planning and client services at SAIC, Gutzmer was key in the formation and implementation of SAIC’s commuter program in 1998, and she continues to demonstrate her on-going commitment to improving transportation in the San Diego region.
• Individual: Deb Schmidt – The commuter services coordinator for Cal State San Marcos, Schmidt tirelessly worked to help develop and implement the university’s new commuter program.

If you would like assistance in setting up a commuter program at your company, please call 511 and say 'iCommute' and an employer representative will assist you.

Diamond Award Winners 2002-2009

(alphabetical order)

American Assets Inc. Amylin Pharmaceuticals APW Electronics Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino BD Biosciences PharMingen Best Best & Krieger Biosite Inc Biogen Idec California Bank & Trust California State University, San Marcos Callaway Golf Caltrans District 11 Catalyst Advancement LLC City of Chula Vista City of San Diego City of Solana Beach Computer Associates International Inc. Cox Communications Deloitte & Touche, San Diego EDAW/AECOM Embassy Suites, San Diego Bay Genentech Golden Acorn Casino Greater San Diego Transportation Company Hewlett Packard Hotel del Coronado Intuit Kyocera Wireless Corporation

La Costa Glen, Carlsbad Naval Base Coronado Naval Base San Diego NBC 7/39 Northwestern Mutual Financial Network PharMingen Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Port of San Diego QUALCOMM, Inc Raytheon Company Science Applications International Corporation The Salk Institute San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina San Diego Housing Commission Scripps Health SHARP Hospitals Smart Corner Associates Solar Turbines Sony Online Entertainment Streamload TKG Engineers Universal Circulation Services University of California, San Diego United States Navy USAOpoly USS Nimitz – US Navy Watkins Manufacturing Zoological Society of San Diego