Leave vehicles home, cash in with EcoBucks

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Leave vehicles home, cash in with EcoBucks

February 23, 2008 by walkerevans

Leave vehicles home, cash in with EcoBucks
The Dispatch
Saturday, February 23, 2008
BY BILL CHRONISTER

Calfee, Halter & Griswold is participating in a new program called EcoBucks, which provides workers $1 a day for each time they walk, bike, rollerblade or even ski to and from work rather than drive. They get 50 cents a day when they car pool or ride the bus.

The firm began offering the EcoBucks this week to its staff of 44, “and we had a 20.5 percent mode shift the first day,” said Douglas Morgan, managing partner. “Our goal is to improve our own health and that of our community.”

“We should hold Morgan and his firm up as champions,” said Jeff Stephens, a marketing consultant in Worthington and bicycling advocate who read about the plan at Considerbiking.org.

So far, however, Morgan’s law firm is the only group to try the EcoBucks challenge. “We’ll be the second,” said Ashley Routson, associate knowledge planner at Young Isaac, a Downtown marketing firm. She and co-worker Elizabeth Almeyda attended a talk by Morgan during the Columbus “Get Green” Business Conference this month.

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Posted in Alternative X-ing, Bicycle X-ing, Bus X-ing, Pedestrian X-ing | 3 Comments

3 Responses to “Leave vehicles home, cash in with EcoBucks”

on February 23, 2008 at 1:13 pm1 walkerevans

Doug Morgan wrote an article on the CBA’s website as well. Located here. Very inspirational stuff.
on February 23, 2008 at 2:33 pm2 calle13

As far as I can tell, this is something that Morgan’s law firm agreed to do. There is no formal “enrolling in the EcoBucks program.” (Please someone correct me if I am wrong.) So for all of us that have to commute, we need to talk to our employers and tell them about this idea.

A more drastic program would be where each office calculates how much they spend per parking space for employees. Then no longer offer free parking (or reducated rate parking) and instead make it optional. If you keep using the parking space, then there is no change. If you don’t keep using the parking space, then you as an employee get that money refunded to you. However, this binary type of system (park your car every day or never park a car) isn’t flexible enough to help people who want to bike twice a week, or walk unless there’s snow. This system also doesn’t work if you work out in the country and the price of land is super duper low.

This “$1 or 50 cents” system appeals to companies because it is so simple. They don’t have to calculate the cost of each parking space and look like they are playing favorites with different people.

Congrats to Doug Morgan for getting his firm to do this!!
on February 23, 2008 at 2:46 pm3 walkerevans

I like the simplicity of this program. If it were too complex to understand or figure out then people probably wouldn’t be so quick to jump on board with it.

Time to start petitioning employers!