Companies to Get Awards for Their Traffic Solutions
Driven by a gas crunch and a federal tax credit, Allergan Inc. started a van-pool program in 1980 to help reduce traffic congestion and get its far-flung employees to work at the same time.
In the eight years that followed, the tax credit disappeared. Orange County’s traffic problems multiplied. And the Irvine-based manufacturer of skin- and eye-care products ran out of parking spaces for its 1,500 employees--even though there are two multistory parking structures on Allergan property.
“People are parking in red zones and handicapped spaces, anywhere they can find a spot,” said Irma Acuna, Allergan’s corporate fleet administrator.
But the result of these crises was perseverance, not panic. And Allergan will be rewarded this morning for expanding its original efforts. Today, its traffic-reduction plans include a van-pool program with nine routes that range as far as Riverside and Oceanside, a fledgling tele-commuting program in which 12 computer programmers work at home, and a bike rack and showers for those who cycle to the office.
“We have full support from upper management for the van pool,” Acuna said. “They feel that if we have enough participants in the van-pool program, we may not have to build another parking structure.”
In addition to Allergan, nine other county traffic pioneers will receive Transportation Partnership Awards from the Orange County Transportation Commission at a breakfast ceremony, said Tom Fortune, spokesman for the commission.
The awards program, now in its fourth year, “was started as a way to encourage more efficient use of the existing transportation system because it is so costly to build freeways and expand freeways,” Fortune said.
The rewards of such programs transcend civic duty, though, as Allergan officials rapidly recognized.
“We realize that people live a good distance from work,” Acuna said. “We encourage the van-pool program. It brings in our employees with less stress.”
Allergan is the only recipient of an award in the ride-sharing category, Fortune said. The four other award categories and recipients are:
- Alternative Work Hours: Southern California Edison; J.M. Peters Co.; Orange County Community Services Agency.
- Employee Incentives: The Capital Group.
- Traffic Circulation Improvements: the city of Cypress; the Los Angeles Times; state Sen. John Seymour; Phil Cashia, chairman of the South Coast Metro Executive Task Force.
- New Programs: Ricoh Electronics.
