Proposed Law Has Business Thinking About Smog

Clarence Walthall probably won’t get the notice in the mail from the county until early next year, but he’s already thinking about it. Walthall is the operations manager of Petoseed Co. in Saticoy--”in charge of everything that doesn’t have to do with seeds,” as he puts it--and the notice he’s expecting will require his company to change the commuting habits of the 160 people who work there.

Walthall has a few ideas already: preferred parking places for car-poolers, flexible hours for some employees, awards for those departments with the most ride-sharing. But it’s likely to be an uphill battle. “Flex-time” isn’t an option for most of his workers. And rush-hour traffic, while congested, isn’t bad enough to encourage most people to share a car or throw themselves on the mercy of notoriously circuitous bus routes. In the end, he says, “I’m just going to have to call them in here group by group and sell it to them.”

Most other big employers in Ventura County will be going through the same frustrating routine soon. Next week, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors will consider an air-pollution control rule that would force companies with 50 or more employees to draw up so-called “trip-reduction” plans, designed to cut the number of commuter trips in cars and trucks. The measure is expected to pass.

If the plan succeeds in Ventura County, it will be a first. No other locality has tried to cut air pollution with such measures, although a few have succeeded in thinning peak-hour traffic. And the local business community is less than enthusiastic about a rule that could dramatically affect work schedules and business hours.

The rule is similar to a requirement recently imposed on the four-county Los Angeles region by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Spokesman William Kelly said the South Coast agency has rejected about 40% of the companies’ ride-sharing plans so far. “A lot of the companies seem to want to do the minimal amount required--as little as possible,” he said.

If the Ventura County ride-sharing rule meets its goal, it will reduce air pollution in the county by only about one-half of one percent. But its symbolic value is considerable. It would be the first regulation in Ventura County aimed at reducing smog from “mobile” sources--such as cars and trucks--rather than “stationary” sources such as factories and oil fields. As such, the rule is probably an indication of things to come, as county and federal officials struggle over the next few years to attain federal clean air standards.

Though Ventura County has suffered only two smog alerts in the last six years, its pollution problems are among the worst in the nation. In fact, the Air Pollution Control District has never set forth a strategy to meet federal air quality standards--a violation of federal law which led a local environmental group, Citizens to Preserve the Ojai, to file suit in an effort to force tougher smog-fighting measures.

Under terms of a settlement last February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has until June, 1991, to prepare a clean air strategy for Ventura County. County air pollution officials are working with the EPA on the plan.

Court Orders Feared

The ride-sharing rule is one step in that direction. “We are trying to avoid a situation where some federal judge says: ‘Employees in Ventura County can drive to work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only,’ ” said County Supervisor Susan Lacey.

The county doesn’t intend to force people out of their cars, at least not directly. Rather, it may require large employers to draw up plans to encourage their employees to share rides or commute during off-peak hours--specifically, before 6 a.m. and after 10 a.m. Those hours are considered critical because pollutants emitted from vehicles during morning hours “bake” in the air on hot, still days to create afternoon smog.

Although company officials could be fined or even jailed if they refuse to draw up the trip-reduction plans, they cannot be penalized if their employees do not reduce their trips. For the most part, the county will take the word of companies that the plans are being followed, although it will require a progress report each year.

Most organized business leaders in the county, including the Ventura County Economic Development Assn., support the rule. But individual firms vary in their commitment to the cause.

Old Plans Exist

Some have old ride-sharing plans dating to the energy crisis of the late 1970s. GTE instituted an extensive, employer-subsidized van pool and private bus system when it moved its corporate headquarters from Santa Monica to Thousand Oaks four years ago. “We plan to do this at least until construction of the Ventura Freeway is done and possibly thereafter,” said spokesman Larry Cox.

Other employers fear that they will not be able to induce their workers to change their habits, especially if they live close to work. “Car-pooling may not make sense here,” said Connie Taylor, public information officer at the Port Hueneme Naval Construction Battalion Center. Many of the base’s 10,000 employees live “almost on the perimeter of the base,” Taylor said.

Transportation experts acknowledge that it will be difficult for companies to meet the goals required of them, especially in a suburban county where dependence on the automobile is high and traffic congestion is not as great as it is in a large city such as Los Angeles. “There is no perceived need; therefore the effort is going to be so much more difficult,” said Tricia Price, head of the Ventura office of Commuter Transportation Services, a nonprofit organization that runs the Commuter Computer and assists companies with ride-sharing plans.

The most successful ride-sharing programs typically involve employees who travel long distances to work. For example, more than 10% of the 2,500 employees who work at GTE’s corporate headquarters use the company’s private buses and van pools--many from such distant locations as Long Beach and San Bernardino. These employees pay, on average, about $60 to $70 per month for the van service, but such fees only cover about a third of the cost. GTE picks up the rest.

No Help Seen

By the same token, flexible work hours may be not be much help in achieving the goals because of the expansive definition of morning rush hours--6 a.m. to 10 a.m. For example, the Naval Ship Weapons System Engineering Station at Port Hueneme, which has a mostly white-collar work force of 2,000 people, permits flexible work hours. But, said spokesman Russ Pyle, “we have to be at work by 9.”

On the other hand, Ventura County Air Pollution Control District Executive Officer Richard Baldwin pointed out, a four-day, 10-hour-per-day work schedule might be an effective tool to cut morning rush hour trips. Such schedules are still relatively rare, although in Los Angeles, virtually all 900 employees of the Air Quality Management District work a “4/10” schedule. Pyle said the Port Hueneme engineering operation has a four-day work week as an option, but no survey has been conducted to determine how many employees use it.

Cities elsewhere have experienced some success at reducing traffic through car-pooling plans.

For example, the Northern California city of Pleasanton has aggressively required developers to reduce employees’ commuting trips. In commending Pleasanton’s efforts, urban planners around the U.S. have pointed to the city’s dramatic results: 54% of all commuters either ride mass transit or drive during off-peak hours. But because the Pleasanton ordinance is designed to reduce traffic congestion, not smog, the definition of “peak” hours is narrow: 7:30-8:30 a.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m. Only 15% of the employees walk, bicycle, or ride a bus to work.

Company Pride Helps

Transportation experts say that corporate pride plays a role in implementing ride-sharing plans. Pasadena consultant Peter Valk, who has assisted L.A.-area companies in complying with the ride-sharing rule there, acknowledged that his clients may be reluctant at first to push hard. “But once they face the reality of having to make the investment, they figure they might as well make it pay off, both symbolically and in a real dollar way,” he said.

In Pleasanton, city transportation director Gail Gilpin said the bad publicity associated with not meeting the ride-sharing targets often motivates businesses to try harder. “All the information that comes through my office is on the public record, so if they don’t reach their goal, it gets into the press real easily,” she said. “That disincentive is probably greater than any fine.”

If the rule is approved, the Air Pollution Control District will begin working with companies of 100 employees or more next year. Companies of 75 to 99 employees will be affected in 1991, and companies with 50 to 74 employees will be affected in 1992.

The county has about 580 companies with 50 or more employees; together, these companies employ about half the county’s 250,000-member work force. The rule will apply only to employees who must report to the same location at least 10 days per month. Most field workers will be exempt.

Under the trip-reduction rule, each company’s “average vehicle ridership” must rise from an average of about 1.1 persons per vehicle today to 1.35 initially and 1.5 by 1997.