12.13.110 Requirements for employers.
An affected employer is required to make a good faith effort, as defined in RCW 70.94.534(2) and this chapter, to develop and implement a CTR program that will encourage its employees to reduce VMT per employee and SOV commute trips. The employer shall submit a description of its program to the City and provide an annual progress report to the City on employee commuting and progress toward meeting the SOV goals. The CTR program must include the mandatory elements described below.
A. CTR Program Description Requirements. The CTR program description presents the strategies to be undertaken by an employer to achieve the CTR goals for each goal year. Employers are encouraged to consider innovative strategies and combine program elements in a manner that will best suit their location, site characteristics, business type, and employees’ commuting needs. Employers are further encouraged to cooperate with each other and to form or use transportation management organizations in developing and implementing their CTR programs.
At a minimum, the employer’s description must include the following:
1. General description of the employment site location, transportation characteristics, and surrounding services, including unique conditions experienced by the employer or its employees;
2. Number of employees affected by the CTR program;
3. Documentation of compliance with the mandatory CTR program elements (as described in subsection B of this section);
4. Description of the additional elements included in the CTR program (as described in subsection B of this section); and
5. Schedule of implementation, assignment of responsibilities, and commitment to provide appropriate resources.
B. Mandatory Program Elements. Each employer’s CTR program shall include the following mandatory elements:
1. Transportation Coordinator. The employer shall designate a transportation coordinator to administer the CTR program. The coordinator’s and/or designee’s name, location, and telephone number must be displayed prominently at each affected work site. The coordinator shall oversee all elements of the employer’s CTR program and act as liaison between the employer and the City of Lakewood. The objective is to have an effective transportation coordinator presence at each work site; an affected employer with multiple sites may have one transportation coordinator for all sites.
2. Information Distribution. Information about alternatives to SOV commuting shall be provided to employees at least once a year. Each employer’s program description and annual report must report the information to be distributed and the method of distribution.
3. Annual Progress Report. The CTR program must include an annual review of employee commuting and progress and good faith efforts toward meeting the SOV reduction goals. Affected employers shall file an annual progress report with the City in accordance with the format established by this chapter and consistent with the CTR Task Force Guidelines. The report shall describe each of the CTR measures that were in effect for the previous year, the results of any commuter surveys undertaken during the year, and the number of employees participating in CTR programs. Within the report, the employer should evaluate the effectiveness of the CTR program and, if necessary, propose modifications to achieve the CTR goals. Survey information or approved alternative information must be provided in the reports submitted in the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth years after implementation begins. The employer should contact the City for the format of the report.
4. Additional Program Elements. In addition to the specific program elements noted above, the employer’s CTR program shall include additional elements as needed to meet CTR goals. Elements may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following:
a. Provision of preferential parking or reduced parking charges, or both, for high-occupancy vehicles;
b. Instituting or increasing parking charges for SOVs;
c. Provision of commuter ride matching services to facilitate employee ridesharing for commute trips;
d. Provision of subsidies for transit fares;
e. Provision of vans for vanpools;
f. Provision of subsidies for carpools or vanpools;
g. Permitting the use of the employer’s vehicles for carpooling or vanpooling;
h. Permitting flexible schedules to facilitate employees’ use of transit, carpools or vanpools;
i. Cooperation with transportation providers to provide additional regular or express service to the work site;
j. Construction of special loading and unloading facilities for transit, carpool, and vanpool users;
k. Provision of bicycle parking facilities, lockers, changing areas, and showers for employees who bicycle or walk to work;
l. Provision of a program of parking incentives such as rebates for employees who do not use the parking facilities;
m. Establishment of a program to permit employees to work part- or full-time at home or at an alternative work site closer to their homes;
n. Establishment of a program of alternative work schedules, such as a compressed work week which reduces commuting; and
o. Implementation of other measures designed to facilitate the use of high-occupancy vehicles, such as on-site day care facilities and emergency taxi service. [Ord. 501 § 3, 2009.]