Commuter initiative targets campus

A new county-university commuter initiative is meant to reduce auto emissions and improve air quality in the campus and downtown areas of Madison.

Dane County, in partnership with Transportation Services, will receive a $78,890 two-year grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under a new “Clean Air Transportation Communities,” grant program, chose. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Michael Lovejoy, interim director of transportation services, announced the initiative, which targets county and university employees.

The main parts of the program are:

• A pay-as-you-use parking system, using new technology smart/debit cards and in-car meters which allow a driver to pay only for the time parking is actually used, providing a financial incentive to use the parking lot less frequently. Five hundred will be issued to UW–Madison employees and 98 to County employees at a cost of $20,930.
• One hundred twenty half-price “Quick Tix” bus passes subsidized with $12,960 from the grant.
• A new, “Catch a Carpool” Web site providing reliable, timely and secure information to people wishing to carpool, thereby reducing disincentives to carpooling related to lack of flexibility, security and matching.
• A new model telecommuting program developed at the university (UW-Madison will receive $5,000 for equipment to implement the telecommuting, and Dane County will use $25,000 to study how and where telecommuting may work in county employment.
• Technical reports and “how-to” guides on how the programs can work on a more extensive basis.

Dane County and Transportation Services hope to reduce vehicle miles traveled to the university by 350,000 miles per year and to county offices by 73,500 per year.

Population in the Madison area is expected to grow by 21 percent by 2020. Transportation contributes about one-third of the greenhouse gas emissions nation-wide and is one of the single largest contributors of air pollution. Groundlevel ozone can irritate the respiratory system, aggravate asthma, emphysema and bronchitis, and reduce lung functioning.

Falk said that this new program will build on what Dane County has already done, including the Bike and Ride initiative, mass transit incentive program, carpool program with preferred parking, and vanpool program assistance.

In addition, UW–Madison has developed many programs to promote transportation alternatives and commuter choices.