Research Triangle Park, N.C. –  The SmartCommute Challenge has released final results from its 7-week-long public service campaign. At final count, more than 12,700 Triangle-area commuters signed a pledge to try an alternative means of transportation to work or school.

“According to some of our preliminary analysis, which is based on an average trip length and the number of times participants plan to use transportation alternatives” said Julie Woosley, marketing coordinator for TTA, “we estimate that SmartCommute Challenge participation eliminated 1.4 million commuter miles in the Triangle and saved more than 58,000 gallons of gas.”

Participation in the 2006 Challenge is up more than 5% compared to the 2005 SmartCommute Challenge despite much lower gas prices. On Friday, (October 1) gas prices in Raleigh were more than 75 cents cheaper than they were one year ago.

The SmartCommute Challenge participation numbers reflect a rising interest level in carpooling, vanpooling, biking, teleworking and public transit. The Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) set a new one month record for ridership in August. During the month, 80,716 rides were recorded on all TTA regional routes, shuttles and express buses.

“In addition to the increased TTA ridership numbers, we’ve also seen huge increases in calls to our service center and web traffic on GoTriangle.org, which is the web gateway for both ridesharing and bus trip planning information,” said Amy Armbruster, Triangle Transportation Demand Management Coordinator for TTA.

“During August 2005, GoTriangle.org had almost 120,000 visitors. But this August, we saw a 50% increase in web traffic bringing our monthly total to over 180,000 visitors.”

“We believe the web stats, increased call volume, plus TTA’s increased ridership numbers reflect a steadily growing interest in transportation alternatives in the Triangle,” said Armbruster. “We suspect much of this interest is driven by the Triangle’s growing congestion -- especially when you consider that these numbers are up even at a time when gas prices are actually falling.”

Carpooling and Teleworking are most popular options
An estimated Forty-two percent of SmartCommute Challenge participants pledged to carpool instead of driving alone and another estimated 42% pledged to telework.

The remaining estimated participation breakdown was: public transit, 25%; biking, 17%; walking 12%; and vanpooling 4%. (Total percentages are greater than 100% because participants were encouraged to try more than one mode)

Campaign Background
Originally, the campaign was limited to Research Triangle Park employees, but in 2005 it was expanded to include Durham, Orange and Wake Counties. In 2006, The Challenge expanded even further to include all Triangle-area college students.

"RTP employers continue to be strong supporters of the SmartCommute Challenge,” said Alison Fiori, Director of SmartCommute@rtp, a program of the Research Triangle Foundation. Fiori continued, “The transportation coordinators at these companies helped make the Challenge possible and continue to implement innovative transportation solutions for their employees."

The SmartCommute Challenge Final Celebration will be part of a larger reginoal transportation and air quality event planned for mid-November.  The event is being held in conjunction with Best Workplaces for Commuters and Triangle Air Awareness.

About the SmartCommute Challenge Organizers:
The organizers of the 2006 SmartCommute Challenge are SmartCommute@rtp, Triangle Transit Authority (TTA), and Triangle Air Awareness.

About the SmartCommute Challenge: The SmartCommute Challenge is a non-profit public service campaign that uses prizes and special promotions to encourage Triangle commuters to explore transportation alternatives. In exchange for taking the online pledge, participants are entered into a drawing for a chance to win a free vacation or one of over 30 other prizes.  Participants are also provided with a list of links to resources such as mass-transit schedules, a rideshare matching database, bicycle and pedestrian groups and more.

About SmartCommute@rtp: SmartCommute@rtp is the transportation management association (TMA) of the Research Triangle Park. Its purpose is to coordinate the transportation demand management (TDM) efforts of RTP employers and address common transportation concerns, reduce traffic congestion, and improve air quality. SmartCommute currently has 24 member employers. SmartCommute is staffed by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, owner and developer of the Research Triangle Park.

About TTA - Triangle Transit Authority: TTA is a regional public transportation provider, offering a wide variety of transit and vanpool services to North Carolina's greater Triangle Region and outlying counties. Bus service is available to Apex, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Garner, RDU International Airport, Research Triangle Park (RTP) and Raleigh. The Triangle Transit Authority also provides commuter resources and hosts GoTriangle.org, the on-line resource for the public transportation information in the Triangle.

About Triangle Air Awareness: The Triangle Air Awareness Coalition provides leadership that educates and mobilizes individuals both inside and outside of their organizations to be aware of the air quality forecast, to improve air quality by the choice of their actions, and to protect their health on bad air quality days.  Triangle Air Awareness is funded by Triangle Tomorrow and a grant from the NC Division of Air Quality.