It’s not a lot of money but, as they say, every little bit helps.
So public officials hope the offer of gift cards may be enough to entice more Sonoma County commuters to consider alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles for daily travel to college or work.
Under a program launched last year by the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, participants in the Go Sonoma Commute Rewards Program can earn points toward $10, $25 or $50 cards by logging trips that use public transit, ride sharing, teleworking or traveling on foot, bike or electric scooter instead of driving their own cars.
About 280 people have recorded more sustainable commutes through the program’s digital platform so far this year, said Dana Turréy, senior transportation planner with the agency, which is overseen by elected county and city officials in Sonoma County. The commuters include a guy named Mark who stands at the top of the leaderboard, with more than 4,300 “alternative trips” logged since the program started in April of last year.
But the transportation authority is trying to beef up the program’s visibility hoping more people will shift to cleaner commute solutions to reduce climate warming gases.
People also “could definitely take advantage of this if they’ve already been using teleworking or walking or biking anyway,” Turréy said. “But the idea is to encourage people to keep doing it and for new people to try it out.”
The system allows participants 18 and older to earn 10 points each way for commutes using a carpool or vanpool, public transit or active transportation like walking, biking or E-scootering. They also can earn 10 points for a full day of teleworking.
Two hundreds points (20 trips or 10 round-trips) is enough to earn a $10 gift card for places like REI, Target, Uber Eats and other service and retail companies, irrespective of the commute distance. Or participants can hold onto their points, accumulating 500 points for a $25 card or 800 points for $50 cards. All reward levels are limited to two cards a year, Turréy said.
Each person who logs four or more clean commutes a month also has their name entered into a monthly drawing for a $25 gift card.
The program includes a few key features aimed at making it easier to get involved.
The digital platform through which participants register and track their travel includes a ride match function that allows users to see other participants regularly traveling between, say, Santa Rosa and downtown San Rafael, what days and times they go and how to connect.
The program also includes an “emergency ride home” component that takes the risk out of more sustainable travel by providing reimbursement up to four times a year for trips home via taxi, Uber, Lyft and the like due to unexpected circumstances like a sick child or mandatory overtime.
Almost half, about 44%, of participants commute by carpool, Turréy said. Twenty-seven percent travel by train. More than 8% telework. Almost 14% cycle.
Torina Wilson, who joined the program in May of last year, bikes to work in west Santa Rosa from her home about 4 miles away two-to-four times a week. She said she’s earned $250 or more, choosing REI gift cards that have allowed her to invest in bike safety equipment, like reinforced tires.
Whether a few gift cards can persuade enough people to abandon their cars to make a difference is “the million dollar question,” said Eris Weaver, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition.
Most people who change their transportation habits are driven by a dedication to reduce their carbon impact and may not be the target audience for a rewards program.
But while not a silver bullet, the rewards program offers one more reason for people to consider trying alternative transportation and could ultimately tip the balance toward a change in behavior, Wilson said.
As a transportation planner, Wilson has given a lot of thought to what it takes to shift people away from single-occupancy vehicles. Lots of people need multiple reasons that finally make it the obvious choice, she said.
“It’s one more thing that then reinforces that type of behavior,” Wilson said. “It’s just one more tool, I would say.”
Competitions are really popular among cyclists, including team challenges designed to motivate more bicycle travel, Weaver said. Adding that kind of “gamification” to the program could help, Weaver said.
“The gateway for a lot of people who commute to work is bike-to-work month,” where groups like the Bicycle Coalition organize contests allowing teams to compete for who can cover the most miles, Weaver said. “If you’ve got the right mix of things in there, those kinds of things can be really useful.”
New challenges already are part of the plan, Turréy said.
The program paid out $10,120 in commute rewards from April 2023 through May 2024, Turréy said. That’s a relatively small part of a program budgeted for $64,000 from November 2024 to November 2025, which includes program software, commute incentives, emergency ride home reimbursements, staff time and marketing, she said.
It is funded by the nine-county Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which governs the southern part of Sonoma County, and the Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control district. The current grant lasts through November 2025.
The program is operating in a year-to-year basis so officials can evaluate whether it is meeting its aim.
“What we’d like to see is a consistent increase of users and also we’d like to see an increase in people matching their carpools through the program to really see if it’s working,” she said.
Learn more about the program at gosonoma.org/commuterewards/.
You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan (she/her) at 707-521-5249 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @MaryCallahanB.
___
(c)2024 The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
Visit The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.) at www.pressdemocrat.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
