Comprehensive, practical employee commute options guidebook for New York State

A comprehensive guidebook for practical employee commute options (ECO) was compiled for employers in New York State to provide them the technical expertise to develop an ECO program. This ECO guidebook is a result of literature search, employer survey, and the participation of advisory committee members consisting of people from the agencies that will be enforcing the state regulations that implement the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and representatives of several organizations that have experience working with employers on commuter transportation in the New York metropolitan area. This study identified guaranteed ride home programs, parking management, and the commitment of upper management as three essential factors that will make an ECO program succeed. The strength of this ECO guidebook is an extensive discussion of each commute option and support strategy as well as a discussion of the entire process of developing and implementing an ECO program and the background of successful ECO programs. The description of each commute option or support strategy contains such topics as definitions, candidate employees, employee and employer benefits, employer's role, employer and employee costs, detailed implementation steps, successful cases, additional resources and readings, and sample program implementation schedules. A summary of the findings from the literature search and employer survey is presented, the responsibilities of the employee transportation coordinator are discussed, and the guidebook is introduced briefly.