Solutions Spring 2011 - Plain Text - Arlington Transportation Partners

Solutions Spring 2011 - Plain Text

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ACCS Improves the Environment, Public Health, Quality of Life, and Local Economy

The mission of Arlington County Commuter Services (ACCS) is to help make transportation easier. But did you know ACCS also helps reduce traffic, gas consumption and pollution? On an average workday in FY 2010, ACCS helped reduce traffic by about 40,000 vehicle trips1. That is roughly the number of cars coming into D.C. on I-66 and I-395 during morning rush hour!

ACCS provides transportation information and services that help people switch from driving alone to using rail, bus, bicycling, walking, carpooling, or vanpooling. Some trips are eliminated completely by helping employees telework. Using a more sustainable mode of transportation results in less fuel consumed, which in turn reduces the costs of transportation, as well as the production of climate-changing greenhouse gases (GHG) and lung-damaging ground-level ozone.

Each work day, the impact of 40,000 fewer cars on the road is a savings of about 26,500 gallons of gas used, over 72,000 tons of carbon dioxide produced, 144,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides (NOx) produced, and 81,000 pounds of volitile organic compounds (VOC) emitted into the atmosphere2. Thus ACCS supports Arlington’s green initiatives such as the Community Energy Plan and Fresh AIRE. It also supports our nation’s vision of energy independence.

Arlingon County has a unified program of transportation services to increase mobility and access for all Arlingtonians as well as those who work and visit here. The ACCS impact model has tried to conservatively quantify reductions in vehicle miles traveled and pollution due to our services. However, benefits to the community also include reduced traffic congestion, improved public health, and a higher quality of life for everyone. Businesses enjoy the benefits of improved access to jobs and services, easier recruitment and retention of the workforce, better morale and productivity of workers, and improved access for freight. Thus, ACCS also helps promote economic development and enhance the business climate of Arlington.

ACCS services are extensive and include:

Employer, Residential, and Visitor Services by Arlington Transportation Partners
CommuterDirect.com by the Commuter Information Center
The Commuter Store®
WALKArlington
BIKEArlington
CommuterPage.com® Family of Websites
Transportation Information Display Deployment
Distribution, Logistics, and Bus Stop Information
Marketing Program including the Car-Free Diet and CFD Skeptics Challenge
Transportation Research and Monitoring
Site Plan Development and Enforcement

Surveys show that the popular ACCS, CommuterDirect.com, and the Commuter Stores have some of the highest net promoter scores across all industries!

Welcome to the Mobility Lab

The Mobility Lab is an exciting new initiative exploring the best practices for making all people aware of their transportation options and new opportunities for improving overall transportation efficiency.

Jointly funded by Arlington County and the State of Virginia, Mobility Lab programs include online training, public forums, news, research, guest speakers and other special events. Everyone is invited to join us as we explore the confluence of human movement, livability, individual choice, and economic vitality. Mobility Lab programming will be conducted both live and archived online at our website, which will be launched this spring.

Mobility Lab Training focuses on proven TDM practices supported by extensive research. Our instructors are expert TDM practitioners carefully selected for the subject based upon their real-world success. Training classes are conducted in a classroom setting and archived online for use 24/7. State TDM Certification from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation is available for individuals who complete a required curriculum.

Mobility Lab’s mission statement projects the vital thrust of our initiative:

“Mobility Lab nurtures innovations to a fundamental requirement of human life: transportation. It is a place of collaboration, education, and continuous improvement for moving people in more healthy, efficient, and sustainable ways.”

Our work focuses on the discipline of Transportation Demand Management or TDM. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies defines TDM as “strategies to reduce congestion by:

Shifting demand to alternatives for single occupancy vehicles (SOVs), such as carpooling, vanpooling, transit, walking, bicycling, or telecommuting;
Shifting travel out of the peak period, such as through flexible schedules, compressed work weeks, or congestion pricing; or
Shifting travel to less congested facilities, such as through providing traveler information systems that warn motorists about delays.”

Mobility Lab is a place for practitioners, transportation planners, academics, stakeholders, and the public at large to collaborate on TDM and transportation-related issues. Within our online collaboration zone will be blogs, forums, and discussion groups oriented to the diverse interests within our discipline. Through this group-think process, we envision breaking new ground for the future of transportation demand.

Our monthly speaker series will provide a stage for thought-provoking voices and perspectives. ?The speaker series will be open to the public and of course available online. Through collaboration and training, Mobility Lab aims to be a catalyst for continuing improvement.

Please stay tuned for our Spring 2011 online launch. We hope you will join the conversation at the Mobility Lab. Mobility Lab, transporting the future!

ATP is a Green Games Star

This winter, Arlington Transportation Partners has had the pleasure of being both a corporate partner and a participant in the inaugural Arlington Green Games competition. The Green Games is a friendly competition for commercial property owners and tenants to reduce costs while reducing their emissions. It is a highly interactive year-long competition incorporating training, best practices, and technical assistance to help businesses implement green ideas in the office.

For the competition, participants complete an online scorecard that helps them establish baselines for their current environmental performance and they get started on 30 green strategies. The scorecard covers six categories, including energy, transportation, waste, water, materials, and employee outreach, plus innovation. Points can be earned in each category from making any number of no- or low-cost actions to full scale retrofit actions. Recognition is provided to all who compete and earn at least 15 points.

The office of Arlington Transportation Partners is fortunate to be located in a LEED Gold Certified building at 1501 Wilson Boulevard. Among other green measures, the office boasts energy efficient appliances, occupancy sensors to control lighting, dual-flush toilets and faucet aerators, and building materials using recycled content. In addition, the building’s location encourages employees and guests to arrive by bicycle, Metro, bus or other forms of public transportation to help reduce pollution caused by single occupant vehicles and promote a healthy lifestyle.

While the office is equipped with a number of environmentally friendly measures, there are still many ways we are hoping to improve—throughout the remainder of 2011 we hope to take additional steps by setting energy use reduction goals, developing a ‘smart travel’ policy, implementing strategies to reduce paper use, and naming a designated sustainability coordinator within the office.

WalkArlington’s Cure for Spring Fever –Take Three Steps and Set Up a Walking Workplace

It’s spring and harder than ever to ignore the sunlight streaming through your window and the warm temperatures that beckon you outdoors, just to stay at your desk and get work done. Why not embrace spring fever, enhance productivity, and get fit in one fell swoop by taking a few simple steps toward setting up your organization as a Walking Workplace?

What is a Walking Workplace?

A Walking Workplace is simply an organization that encourages its employees to incorporate walking into their work day, whether by changing daily habits, participating in ready-made walking programs, promoting local walking events, or putting together a combination of strategies for your workforce ?and your workplace.

Walking to work, walking up stairs, walking at lunch, walking to the bus or train, and walking home after work are all great ways of building walking into a workplace.

What Are the Benefits of Establishing a Walking Workplace?

There are many compelling business reasons for establishing a Walking Workplace. Workplace walking programs can help with common workforce issues, from health care costs to morale, turnover rates to productivity, and absenteeism to team building.

And when organizations support walking, they provide a service that is highly valued by employees, cost-effective, beneficial to the environment, and critical to company success.

What’s the First Step?

WalkArlington and Arlington Transportation Partners (ATP) have done the legwork for you by putting together an exciting new resource called Walk-Arlington Works: A Step-by-Step Guide to a Walking Workplace.

This free three-step overview of ready-made Walking Workplace resources is now available in print from your ATP account representative and online as a .pdf or Flash file at Arlingtontransportationpartners.com/walkingworkplace and walkarlington.com/walkingworkplace.

What’s included in the new WalkArlington Works guide:

User-friendly descriptions of Arlington County programs and resources at your disposal, along with helpful ideas on how to tap into these resources as you set up your Walking Workplace.
Insider information on national Walking Workplace initiatives with ready-made resources from log ?sheets to promotional materials. Just pick and choose what suits you and your workplace.
Links to national Walking Workplace events that you can adapt locally. While these annual tie-in events happen nationally in April, you can organize them anytime to kick off your Walking Workplace program.
Personalized assistance you’ve come to expect from ATP, backed up by Arlington County Commuter Services partner program WalkArlington.

So harness that spring fever, do yourself and your colleagues a favor, and set up a Walking Workplace this spring. With the support of ATP, WalkArlington, and WalkArlington Works: A Step-by-Step Guide to a Walking Workplace, establishing your workplace as a Walking Workplace is as easy as tying your shoes!

Meet the Newest Member of the ATP Team

Arlington Transportation Partners is pleased to introduce the newest member of our team, Andrea Ostrander, who started as ATP’s Business Development Specialist in late February.

Andrea is excited to have returned to the Arlington, VA area after spending the last several years in Tucson, AZ. Though new to the transportation industry, Andrea’s background in marketing, organizational development, sales and experience working with property managers makes her a very valuable member to the team in coordinating marketing efforts and working closely with employers. In her free time, Andrea likes to jog, read and spend time with family. She commutes to the office daily using Metro and bus.

Become a Bicycle Friendly Business

Are you a bike friendly business?! Is your organization proud of the efforts you’re making to promote bicycling as an alternative mode of transportation?

If so, apply NOW to gain the recognition you deserve through the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly Business program! Prove to your stakeholders and stockholders that you are socially responsible member of our community by encouraging the use of bikes as a viable commuting option. Arlington Transportation Partners can help you through the application process which evaluates your biking resources such as bike racks, showers, onsite toolkits, and much more.

Benefits of being bike friendly:

Reduce your company’s carbon footprint.
Maintain a healthy workforce that uses fewer sick days.
Support a sustainable business plan.
Reduce the need for vehicle parking spaces.
Fit employees are more alert, more productive, and perform better and more efficiently.
And many, many more!

For more information on the program please visit BikeArlington.com and search “Bike Friendly Business” or contact Arlington Transportation Partners at (703) 247-9299 and Solutions@transpartners.com and get your application process started today!

Employer Spotlight – Hobson Naviance

Hobson-Naviance is a leader in providing solutions to help schools and school districts prepare every student to graduate from high school ready for success in college, career, and life. In summer of 2010, the company decided to merge its two locations in the Washington DC metro area and move its offices to Clarendon in Arlington. The relocation provides more efficient use of space—optimizing layout for more usable space and better work flow to streamline operations. As importantly, the new location at 3033 Wilson Boulevard offers a range of quick access to transit systems such as the Metro rail, Metrobus, and ART bus systems.

In any move of this nature, an employer wants to make sure that it makes the relocation process for employees smooth to ensure continuous employee satisfaction and retention. In order to prepare its employees for the big move from two different locations to Arlington, the HR department of Hobson-Naviance contacted Arlington Transportation Partners to understand how the company could design new benefits to lessen the impact of the relocation on the productivity of employees and address any concerns that they may have.

As relocation assistance is one of the key functions of Arlington Transportation partners, we quickly put into place a plan to help Hobson-Naviance design a program for the efficient transition of its employees to the new location. To that end, ATP recommended that the company review and enhance its transit benefit policy.

As part of this plan, ATP surveyed the employees of Hobson-Naviance to gauge the state of their current transportation options and the expected future transit options. Based on the survey results and further interactions with key company personnel, ATP gave specific guidelines to the company on how to enhance transit benefits in a manner which balanced the needs of both the company and the employees.

From Karen Mills (Office Manager at Hobsons)

"When relocating our office from Fairfax to Clarendon, we wanted to provide our employees with as much assistance as possible to help them adjust to their new commutes and commuting options. Going from a suburban to more metropolitan area was definitely a culture shock for some. Arlington Transportation Partners helped me to develop a communication strategy and transportation benefit offering to ease our employees' concerns and educate them on the many commuting options that are available in our area. Pinky Advani hosted onsite Q&A sessions to advise our employees on a one-to-one basis, and hand out information and customized commute planners. As a company, Hobsons puts a strong emphasis on being 'green'. ATP supports our cause by encouraging mass transit, carpooling, and public transportation options."

Residential Highlight – Lyon Place Apartments

Construction in Arlington County is back and in full force! After lying dormant for a short while, there are many new residential property developments that are nearing completion all over the county. One of the more recent residential properties to open its doors is Lyon Place, which is part of the Clarendon Center development located at 1200 N. Garfield Street.

The property opened back in December 2010 and is already filling its multi-unit building in the heart of Clarendon. Lyon Place is yet another great residential example of Arlington County’s vision of transit-oriented development. The property participates in the following transportation-related initiatives:

The property is located directly across the street from the ?Clarendon Metro station as well as many local bus routes
Every new leasee receives a FREE SmartTrip Card for every new leasee
Transit Benefit Program for property management employees
On-site bike storage room
Full business center for those residents who telework
Designated and discounted spaces for carpoolers
Links to transportation options on the property website
Transportation Information pertaining to every option ?within a half-mile radius is provided to residents at the ?time of lease signing
Transportation trained staff to ?answer any question residents may have about their options

Some of the other luxurious amenities include:

50-foot Indoor Lap Pool
Designer Kitchens
Luxurious Baths
Granite Counters
Health Club
Hardwood Floors
Resident Party Room and Lounge
Business Center
Residents-Only Courtyard and Sundeck
24-hour Front Desk Attendants
24-hour Attended Garage
24-hour Emergency Maintenance Service

For more information regarding Lyon Place apartments please visit lyonplace.com. To find out how you ?can implement these transportation initiatives for your property, please contact Arlington Transportation Partners at (703) 247-9299 or solutions@transpartners.com.

Quick Tips – Checking Your Chain for Wear

Inspecting your chain on a regular basis for wear and damage is critical for riding safety and performance. By riding on a damaged chain, you add stress that can cause the chain, and therefore ?the bicycle, to fail under load. The most common chain failure occurs when a rivet dislodges from an outer plate of the chain, allowing the chain links to separate.

Check your chain from above and from the side. If your chain is twisted (which you can see by looking down on it) or if your chain has damaged side plates (which you can see by looking at the side of the chain), it most likely needs to be replaced. If you inspect the chain from above and spot a rivet sticking out of one of the plates more than normal (compared to the other rivets), you can use a chain tool to fix this issue and can avoid replacing the chain. Finally, keep an eye on wear showing on the rollers within the chain. As these rollers break down with use, shifting performance may suffer. Replacing a chain with moderate wear will help to increase the life of your bicycle’s rear sprockets.

Capital Bikeshare is Expanding to the Rosslyn Ballston Corridor

Capital Bikeshare is the perfect answer to short work related and recreational trips throughout the day! No need to worry about storing, maintaining, or cleaning a bike -simply sign up for a day, week, month, or yearly membership and leave the headache for someone else. The first half-hour of every ride is always FREE! Capital Bikeshare now has 114 stations throughout Arlington and the District with 1,100 bikes at your disposal and is expanding over the next few months - look for a fully stocked Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor by the end of the summer! Please visit capitalbikeshare.com for more information and pricing or contact ATP directly at (703) 247-9299 to see how your business, residential property, or hotel can get involved.

Visitor Highlight – Potomac Yards Hotels

Arlington County now has two more upscale hotels to add to the already exceptional repertoire of visitor accommodations in our area. The two new Potomac Yard hotels—The Renaissance Arlington Capital View and the Residence Inn Capital View—are both Marriott concepts sharing the block of 2800 Crystal Drive between the new Potomac Avenue and Crystal Drive, and are bordered on the north and south by 27th Street and 28th Street, respectively.

The hotels offer their employees, guests, and visitors sweeping views of Arlington County, spacious open lobbies, glass encased meeting rooms, environmentally friendly practices, and comfortable luxury accommodations including:

Socci Italian Restaurant (Opening April 2011)—Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner are available
Espressamente Illy—Coffeehouse and light fare.
Coffee/tea in-room
Concierge desk
Gift/newsstand
Housekeeping service daily
Laundry on site
Newspaper delivered to room, upon request
Newspaper in lobby
Phone calls: toll-free
Room service, 6:00 AM-12:00 AM
Safe deposit boxes, front desk
Valet dry-cleaning
Vending machines
Copy service
Fax service
Messenger service
Network/Internet printing
Overnight delivery/pickup

The real amenities, however, are in the form of the transportation options. The hotels have been closely working with Arlington County to ensure they include a comprehension transportation management program. The hotels offer:

Free SmartTrip cards and a monthly transit benefit program to employees.
Transportation kiosks in the lobbies that detail local transportation options as well as contain transit brochures to take away.
Located within a block of a Capital Bikeshare Station.
Regular shuttles to and from the Metro.
Distribution of detailed information about all of the local transit options within a half mile radius including Metro, bus, carpooling, vanpooling, Zipcar, and Capital Bikeshare information.
Free Vanpool and discounted Carpool parking spaces.
Links to transportation options on their website.
Bike racks in and around the building.

Visit Marriott.com and search the “Renaissance Arlington Capital View” to find out more about the hotel or book your next event. To discuss how your property can incorporate some of the above transportation initiatives at your property, please call Arlington Transportation Partners at (703) 247-9295 or email solutions@transpartners.com for more information.

Bike to Work Day 2011

Bike To Work Day 2011 Arlington Pit Stops

Bike To Work Day, Friday May 20, 7:a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Please feel free to visit multiple pit stops but remember your FREE Bike to Work Day t-shirt can only be picked up at the pit stop you choose while registering.

Ballston - Conte’s Bicycle Shop
3924 Wilson Boulevard
For more information contact: BikeArlington at 703.247.9299 (TDD: 711)

Crystal City - Crystal City Water Park
across from 1750 Crystal Drivebetween 15th and 18th Streets
For more information contact: Rob Mandle, 703.412.9435 (TDD: 711) or rmandle@crystalcity.org

Rosslyn - Rosslyn Gateway Park
Lee Highway & Lynn Street
For more information contact: BikeArlington at 703.247.9299 (TDD: 711)
FREE FOOD, BEVERAGES AND GIVEAWAYS AT ALL LOCATIONS!

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Adams Morgan
Location: Triangle Park (Unity Park)
Columbia Road/Champlain Street and Euclid Streets, NW
Time: 7:00 - 9:30 a.m.

Anacostia
Location: Anacostia Economic Development Corporation Gateway Building
Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE and Good Hope Road, SE
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 a.m.
Buzzard Point - U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters
Location: U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters; 2100 2nd Street, SW
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Capitol Hill
Location: Eastern Market 8th and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.
Capitol Riverfront
Location: The Yards Park (2 blocks from Navy Yard Metro) 230 N Street, SE
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Columbia Heights
Please note this is an afternoon event Location: Park Road, Kenyon, and 14th Streets, NW, across from the Tivoli Theatre
Time: 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Farragut Square
Location: Farragut Square
Time: 7:00 - 8:30 a.m.

Freedom Plaza
Location: 14th and Pennsylvania
Time: 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Mt. Vernon Triangle
Location: Bicycle SPACE 491 I Street, NW
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 a.m.

NoMa
Location: 1200 First Street, NE First and M Streets, one block off the Metropolitan Branch Trail
Time: 8:00 - 9:30 a.m.

MARYLAND

Bethesda
Location: Reed Street (corner of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues near the Capitol Crescent Trail)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

National Institutes of Health
Location: In front of Building One (1 Center Drive)
Time: 7:00 - 9:30 a.m.

National Institutes of Health - Executive Boulevard
Location: 6116 Executive Boulevard
Time: 8:00 - 9:30 a.m.

Naval Medical Center
Location: South gate near the helipad 8901 Rockville Pike
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Bowie Town Center
Location: Bowie Town Center 15606 Emerald Way (Outside the Food Court)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Bowie Old Town
Location: Bowie Old Town Fire Station 13008 9th St. - Rte. 564
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

College Park
Location: City Hall (4500 Knox Road at Route 1)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Frederick
Location: Frederick MARC Station (Downtown-South East Street)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Hyattsville - Magruder Park
Location: Magruder Park (4000 Hamilton Street)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Hyattsville - University Town Center
Location: University Town Center (one block from the PG Plaza Metro)
Time: TBD

Indian Head
Location: Village Green Pavilion 100 Walter Thomas Road
Time: 6:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.

North Bethesda
Location: White Flint Mall 1130 Rockville Pike
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Rock Springs Business Park
Location: Marriott International Headquarters 10400 Fernwood Road
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Rockville - Rockville Town Center
Location: In Front of Regal Theatre, 199 E Montgomery Ave
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Rockville - Falls Grove Transportation Center
Location: 521 Fallsgrove Drive
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Silver Spring - One Discovery Place
Location: Georgia and Wayne Aves.
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

White Oak - FDA
Location: FDA Historic Building #1 (in the circle) entrance off New Hampshire Ave & Mahan Rd
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 a.m.

VIRGINIA

Alexandria
Location: Market Square at City Hall (301 King Street)
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Arlington - Ballston
Location: Conte’s Bike Shop 3924 Wilson Boulevard
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Arlington - Crystal City
Location: Crystal City Water Park 1750 Crystal Drive between 15th and 18th Streets
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Arlington - Rosslyn
Location: Rosslyn Gateway Park Lee Highway and Lynn Street
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Burke
Location: Burke VRE Station (Near the train platform) 10399 Premier Court
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 a.m.

Fairfax Corner
Location: Public Plaza (in front of Coastal Flats) Grand Commons Ave.
Time: 6:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Fairfax City Downtown
Location: Van Dyck Park (3720 Old Lee Highway)
Time: 6:00 - 9:30 a.m.
Afternoon Rally: 4:30 - 7:00 p.m.

Haymarket
Location: 4414 Costello Way, Haymarket Bicycles, fronts Rt. 55 (Washington St) near Route 15, western end of town
Time: 6:00 - 9:30 a.m.

Herndon
Location: Town Hall Green Intersection of Lynn and Elden Streets, just off the W&OD trail
Time: 5:30 - 10:00 a.m.

Leesburg
Location: W&OD Trail at Raflo Park Time: 6:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Manassas - George Mason University
Location: Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center 9100 Freedom Center Blvd. Time: 6:30 - 9:30 a.m.

Manassas - Kelly
Location: Kelly Leadership Center Intersection of Rt. 234 bike trail
Time: 6:00 - 9:30 a.m.

Manassas - VRE
Location: Manassas VRE station, adjacent to VRE station in Harris Pavilion parking lot 9451 West Street
Time: 6:00 - 9:00 a.m.

Merrifield
Location: Sandburg Street and the W&OD Trail
Time: 6:30 - 8:30

For more information, contact Arlington Transportation Partners (ATP) at 703.247.9299 (TDD: 711), solutions@transpartners.com, or request ATP's services by filling out this form.