CommuteCon 2017

The San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) is actively involved in commuter programs that aim to maximize the efficiency of regional road networks. The council is working to achieve change by partnering with local businesses in an effort to impact commuter behavior.

Through its Back ‘N’ Forth Club, the council offers four levels of participation:

• Bronze: At this level, businesses have a dedicated employee transportation coordinator who maintains a program inventory, institutes a trip reduction plan, integrates with Rideshare.org, and distributes resources.
• Silver: The silver program adds at least two facilities or services that support green commuting alternatives. Examples include secure bicycle parking, vanpool programs, and employee rideshare programs.
• Gold: At the gold level, partners also add subsidizes incentives that deliver direct financial benefits to commuters who participate.
• Platinum: Partners at the platinum level commit to an average per-vehicle ridership of at least 1.5, and implement programs that qualify them for membership in the League of American Bicyclists and Best Workplaces for Commuters.

The Back ‘N’ Forth Club program is ideal for businesses with 30 employees or more, but the council also wants to engage local small businesses. To that end, it has created a pilot program in San Luis Obispo that targets small businesses located in areas with noteworthy traffic congestion problems. The pilot program promotes commuting clusters for small businesses based in congestion-heavy areas.

In addition, the Back ‘N’ Forth Club offers resources to participating businesses, including a cater messaging platform that promotes commuter management programs to employees as well as an outreach program that helps newly joining companies reach full operability at an accelerated rate.

SLOCOG is also engaging with many other upcoming initiatives to build on the progress it has already made. These include participating in Bike Month 2017, as well as plans to increase its outreach to downtown core-based small businesses, create a downtown commuter challenge on iRideshare, and promote the usage of mobile trip logging apps. Bike Month 2017 launches in May, and has historically been one of the organization’s most popular events.