Winners of the Business Commute Challenge were announced Wednesday, and local businesses large and small went home with sense of accomplishment – and prizes.
Last week as part of the challenge, 85 businesses encouraged their employees to choose alternative forms of transportation, including walking, biking, carpooling or taking the bus to increase community health and reduce carbon emissions.
By the Numbers
5 days: | length of the Business Commute Challenge |
85: | businesses participated |
1,121: | participants |
35,838: | pounds of carbon dioxide saved during the challenge |
44,261: | miles traveled using alternative modes of transportation during the five-day challenge |
The five-day program, which ended May 15, had 1,121 participants who traveled more than 44,000 miles using alternative means of transportation and saved 35,838 pounds of carbon dioxide.
The program had four categories of winners based on the number of employees: small businesses, medium businesses, large businesses and extra large businesses.
Zach Stehley, inventory and shipping manager at Co-Motion Cycles in Eugene and part of a winning small business team, said that as a first-year participant he was pleasantly surprised with how well his coworkers fared in the challenge.
Winners
Small Businesses (1 to 24 employees): | Co-Motion Cycles, with 100-percent participation, Northwest Community Credit Union, Eugene branch, with 100-percent participation |
Medium Businesses (25 to 99 employees): | Pivot Architecture, with 100-percent participation, Pacific Cascade Federal Credit Union, with 83-percent participation |
Large Businesses (100 to 299 employees): | Lane Council of Governments, with 42-percent participation, Oregon Research Institute, with 26-percent participation |
Extra Large Businesses (300 or more employees): | City of Eugene, with 11-percent participation, Life Technologies, with 10-percent participation |
“I was really happy so many people got into it,” he said. “It was tough when the weather got bad on a couple of days last week, but people didn’t want to be that one person who ruined it. We had 100-percent participation, and that was without much harassment from me.”
Although the program is short, Business Commute Challenge Coordinator Paul Adkins said its effects are long-lasting.
“Extending the program from one day to an entire week this year reminded people that it is easy and enjoyable to choose alternative transportation,” he said. “Our hope is that more people realize that biking, riding the bus, carpooling and walking are things they can do on a regular basis.”
Stehley agreed that since last week he has seen a surge in the number of people who ride their bikes to work.
“This is a bike shop, so it is really cool to make the point that we rely on our product by not having any cars in the parking lot, but just having bikes,” he said. “On Monday, nearly everybody rode their bike to work because now they are in the habit of getting up just a little bit earlier, and they remember how much fun it is to ride to work.”
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