Metro makes good business sense for local employers

Helping employees get to work is a challenge being faced by a growing number of King County businesses.

Employees at Palace Kitchen, a Tom Douglas restaurant and participant in a Metro Employer Program.

Driving to work alone is seldom the best option considering the cost of gas, parking costs, not to mention the contribution single drivers make to congestion and harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

For hundreds of employers - that’s where King County Metro Transit comes in.

More than 2,000 businesses participate in employer programs with Metro. Through these programs, companies have discovered they can provide commute savings to their employees at no or very low cost to themselves.

"We provide a variety of tools, such as classes on commuting options and mapping so business owners can see where their employees live and whether they are candidates for vanpools," said Gayle Delanty, Metro’s Employer Transportation Representative. "We also help employers survey their workers to get a better sense of their commuting habits so we can develop new and better travel alternatives. These are all tools that benefit both employers and their workers."

McKinstry employees

One company that has teamed up with Metro is the McKinstry Company, a mechanical contracting business in south Seattle that is helping its employees commute to work from all across the county.

"We have a number of different individuals commuting to different locations," said Mari Anderson, Vice President of Human Resources at McKinstry. "How could we serve up an opportunity, and have all of our employees engaged in this? Metro had a lot of good ideas and brought them to the table, which has turned out to be a great resource for us."

Another local employer, Tom Douglas, is a well known local restaurant owner. He says he participates not only for the benefit of his employees, but also as part of his commitment to running a green business.

"It makes sense for us as a restaurant company to participate in this bus pass program because we have 550 employees downtown," says Douglas. "This is a way to get people who may not be able to afford to live downtown an affordable way to get downtown. It’s just an awesome way for us to get employees to and from work."

And bus and vanpools are not the only Metro tools being used by area employers. REI is partnering with King County and other businesses and agencies in a ‘Green Bike Project’. Through this effort, participating employees have been provided with free bicycles in exchange for a promise to reduce their own drive-alone commuting by 60 percent.

Metro consults with about 400 businesses annually regarding these commute programs, and starts about 100 new programs as a result of those consultations.

For information on participating in one Metro's employer programs, visit the Employer Commute Services website.