Local News in Brief : Irvine : Airport-Area Employers Forming Transit Group

Twenty major employers in the area of John Wayne Airport are trying to form their own transportation management group and promote car-pooling, bus ridership and staggered work hours to reduce traffic.

Representatives of Baxter Healthcare Corp., AT&T;, the Koll Co., Shiley Laboratories and Allergan Pharmaceuticals voted unanimously Wednesday to have the Industrial League of Orange County coordinate efforts to develop proposed goals and an association budget.

Transportation management associations have been created for several job centers around the county, including the Irvine Spectrum business complex, the South Coast Metro area near South Coast Plaza and the Cypress industrial park.

Businesses have recently viewed such associations as possible tools for meeting the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s mandatory car-pooling regulation. The anti-pollution agency is gradually requiring employers of 100 or more workers to submit plans for increasing employees’ vehicle occupancy to an average of 1.5 passengers. Failure to submit such plans is punishable by fines of up to $25,000 a day.