There were a couple articles this week on the front page of the Oregonian by Dylan Rivera that showed that you waste a week’s worth of work due to sitting in traffic, 38 hours to be exact. Now that study was in 2005, and if you’re driving in the same traffic I am at peak hours, I can already tell it’s getting worse every time I hit a rush hour in this city. If they did a September 2007 study, I’m sure it’d be well over 40 hours a year.
And judging from the stat that in 1982, rush hour lasted 4.8 hours a day compared to 7.6 hours a day in 2005, commuting during rush hour is getting worse at an accelerated pace.
Let me give you a direct quote from that article from US transportation Secretary Mary Peters, “…the current transportation model is broken, and that bold thinking and leadership are needed.” EcoShuttle offers that environmentally friendly leadership in commuting as a solution to reduce the amount of cars off the road by about 20 cars per shuttle…
This month is the launch of a bigger and brighter picture, an employee shuttle called the Environmental Commuter Options Program. This fringe benefit to employees is for corporations who are trying to clean up their act and image, to offset the pollution they create through single occupancy employee commuting and standard business practices. By offering extra amenities like free WIFI, table trays, power ports, breakfast options, bike racks and even an eco-friendly dry cleaning service, we want to enhance the livelihood of each employee and combat the negative economic effects caused by congestion and pollution.
That was my shameless plug, but I don’t want to see in this city what has happened to L.A. It’s obvious their transportation model is broken, and it needs more than fixing. Hopefully, we can expand more rapidly than currently planned and offer our services from Seattle down the west coast by the end of 2008. Our fleet will only grow as fast as the government officials and corporations wake up and smell the coffee inside one of our luxurious, stress-free rides. You’ll quickly gain that week’s worth of work back and thus enhance our economy and our communities.