Smart Trip Employer Partners
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Make a Difference
When people choose to walk, bike, ride the bus, or share a ride, our entire community benefits - and so does your business. Partnering with Smart Trips helps you build a worksite transportation program that can:
- Recruit and retain skilled employees who live far from the worksite
- Create a supportive workplace and boost employee morale
- Optimize employee and customer parking
- Maintain good relationships with business and residential neighbors
- Advance sustainability goals and minimize greenhouse gas emissions
Want to become an Employer Partner?
- Benefits of Becoming an Employer Partner
- Employer Partner Best Practices
- Support for Employer Partners
- Smart Trips Coordinator Toolkit
- Are you affected by the state CTR Law?
Benefits of Being an Employer Partner
We help you create a worksite program that addresses transportation and environmental challenges by encouraging employees to leave their cars at home and make Smart Trips. The Whatcom Smart Trips program offers "free services" to Smart Trips Employer Partners (see Employer Services below).
In return, we ask that you designate a Smart Trips coordinator and allow about an hour per month to manage the program. (Larger worksites may require additional time.)
Beyond the business benefits, your participation makes a meaningful impact on our community by:
- Reducing traffic congestion
- Supporting a more efficient, cost-effective transportation system
- Improving employee health and well-being
- Strengthening social connections
- Creating a more vibrant business community
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as air and water pollution
Employer Partner Best Practices
After years of working with local businesses we’ve learned what makes a business successful at being a good employer partner.
A great Smart Trips Employer Partner:
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Has company executives who:
- Communicate about Smart Trips at least once a year to all employees
- Make and record Smart Trips at least once a month
- Makes and records Smart Trips at least once a month
- Participates in Smart Trips meetings
- Has completed transit training
- Has completed bicycle skills training
- Bus passes
- Reimbursements for bicycling commuting costs
- Participation prizes for Smart Trips events
- Daily incentive for not driving to work including cash incentives
- Milestone incentives for employees who have recorded a set number of trips
Support for Employer Partners
Whatcom Smart Trips offers free services and materials to Employer Partners and worksites affected by the Commute Trip Reduction Law. Our programs are easy to use, effective, and supported by professionally designed, motivating materials. Explore posters, brochures, and more in our, Toolkit.
Employer Services include:
Smart Trips website and incentives: Our prepackaged incentive program is the foundation of your worksite program. We motivate and reward employees, track their Smart Trips, and manage prize drawings – at no charge to you.
Promotional materials: Turn key promotional materials from brochures and posters to copy used to regularly message and encourage your employees to try new modes of transportation. We help your Smart Trips Coordinator get the word out.
Matching prize money: We match employer spending on incentive prizes - up to $100 per event (or $50 for mid-sized employers) - to encourage their employees to try walking, bicycling, sharing rides or riding the bus.
First time rider bus passes: Employees new to WTA can receive a free monthly bus pass. Smart Trips coordinators can request passes through our website.
Employee presentations and tabeling: Smart Trips staff provide on-site presentations about biking, walking, riding the bus and ridesharing and will table at employee resource events.
Bike to Work and School Day: As the county's largest biking event, Smart Trips provides posters and promotional content to help Employer Partners participate.
Coordinator training and support: Training opportunities include one-on-one bike instruction, bus-riding support, coordinator meetings, and participation in the Washington State Ridesharing Organization's annual conference.
Are you affected by the state Commute Trip Reduction law?
Some larger employers are required to follow particular program guidelines established by the state’s Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) law which promotes partnerships between local government and employers to reduce traffic congestion, fuel use, and air pollution.
Your worksite is affected by this law if you have 100 or more full-time employees at a single worksite location who:
- Begin their regular workday between 6:00am and 9:00am
- Work two or more weekdays
- Are scheduled to work for 12 consecutive months
Worksites that meet these criteria, and don’t already participate in CTR, must "notify us": Blanche@wcog.org.
In 2015, Whatcom County’s CTR Plan was updated to reflect our community’s investment in the Smart Trips program. As a result, CTR-affected employers in Whatcom County are expected to participate in Smart trips and:
- Appoint an Employee Transportation Coordinator, know as a Smart Trips Coordinator (STC)
- Implement 60% or more of "Smart Trips Employer Partner Best Practices"
The Whatcom Smart Trips office provides Employer Services and a Toolkit to help CTR employers meet these requirements.
See the full list of participating Employer Partners here.