Firms Look for Ways to Steer Employees Into Car Pools

Ventura County businesses are scrambling to find ways to meet new deadlines for increasing car pools among employees under tightened rules recently outlined by the Air Pollution Control District.

Even as companies sponsored outdoor fairs and luncheons this week to recognize California Ride-share Week, executives in corporate offices were trying to figure out how to get more employees into fewer cars.

“It’s going to require a lot of hard work,” said Chris Bogdan, who coordinates car-pooling programs for Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, a 250-employee travel firm in Westlake Village.

“About 80% of our employees already participate in our (trip-reduction) plan, so it’s going to be tough to find ways to meet the new goals.”

District officials last week outlined revisions to the county’s trip-reduction rules in a workshop attended by about 100 employers.

Under the amendments, companies must submit plans by January, 1994, showing how they will increase employee ridership from 1.35 per car to 1.5. The 336 companies in Ventura County with 50 or more employees must meet that goal by November, 1996.

Under the old rules, employers would not have to outline how they will reach that goal, which equates to nine employees for every six cars, until 1997. Businesses can also reduce solo commuter trips by encouraging workers to take the bus, ride a bike or walk to work.

Some companies complained bitterly that tightened restrictions will cost businesses even more money at a time when revenues are squeezed by the recession. But Richard Baldwin, the head of the county’s Air Pollution Control District, said the new goals must be incorporated to meet the more stringent requirements of the revised federal Clean Air Act.

The goal of the program is laudable, several business officials agreed. The county’s ozone levels, a prime constituent of smog, are the ninth worst in the nation. Air quality officials say the problem can be reduced, or at least controlled, by limiting the number of cars spewing exhaust on the road.

But the rules can be expensive because businesses must come up with incentives to lure employees from their cars, one employer said.

Kinko’s Service Corp. in west Ventura already spends $23,000 a year on staff and programs to meet the county’s air pollution rules, said spokeswoman Judy Bartlein. The incentives range from preferential parking to monthly cash prizes and certificates for free dry-cleaning and carwashes for people who share rides, she said.

To meet the tightened regulations, the company may introduce new programs to motivate more of its 280 employees to participate, she said. That likely will mean an increase in expenditures as well, Bartlein said.

Other companies are having a harder time than Kinko’s, which is known for its environment-conscious views and is generally supportive of the county’s effort.

At the Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks, average ridership per car is 1.18, far below the 1.35 that the Air Pollution Control District has set for this year. Part of the problem has been convincing 350 employees, many of whom are research scientists with advanced degrees, to restrict vehicle use, said Curtis Johnson, human resources adviser.

But Johnson also lays part of the blame on the county, saying district officials did not properly prepare the company for what is expected under the rules, which have been in effect for about a year.

“The very first year was trial-and-error for us,” Johnson said. “Today, we are still wondering what will satisfy the APCD.”

Johnson said it will be even more difficult for his company to meet the goal of 1.5 riders per car by 1994.

Rockwell offers quarterly cash incentives and has expanded its locker rooms so employees who walk or ride to work can freshen up. It also started a bicycle club, bought on-site bike-repair equipment and guarantees employees who work late a ride home, Johnson said. He declined to say how much the company spends annually on its trip-reduction program.

“There’s only so much a company can spend to get their employees to ride-share,” Johnson said. “I think we’ve exhausted all the little things we can do that are relatively inexpensive.”

Still, many companies have been successful in reaching trip-reduction goals. Pleasant Hawaiian Holiday received an award from the state this week for its car-pool program, said Personnel Director Bogdan.

The company not only met the Air Pollution Control District’s car-pool goals this year, it exceeded them, Bogdan said. Employees can earn free nights at luxury Hawaiian resorts, among other incentives, under the company’s program, which costs the company about $78,000 a year, she said.

For their part, district officials said they are doing everything possible to reduce the burden for employers, including examining proposed revisions to local rules suggested by business representatives at last week’s meeting.

They include counting children dropped off at school or day care as car-poolers and allowing companies with between 50 and 100 employees to remain under the old deadlines, giving them more time to meet the goals, said Chris Frank, a district engineer.

But others, including Rockwell’s Johnson, agree that the main change will have to come in people’s attitudes toward transportation.

“This is a cultural change that is not going to happen overnight,” he said.