As a green commuter, you’ve done your part to help the environment. You found a carpool partner, coordinated schedules, made the trip in together. But what if you arrive at work and find that all of the good parking spots are taken?

Many organizations have good intentions when they designate special preferred carpool parking spots in a prime location near an entrance. One carpool space reduces the need for at least one other parking spot. Promoting carpooling is a great way to reduce your parking demand and encourage commuters to share the ride. However, without the proper enforcement and program management in place, the positive impact of the preferential parking incentive can lose its effectiveness.

That’s where having a partner like the Neponset Valley Transportation Management Association (NVTMA) to manage the program can help. 

The 5 P’s of a Preferred Parking Program

One of the key steps to ensuring preferential parking works as the incentive you intend it to be, is making sure it is being utilized properly and by authorized carpool groups. This involves a certain amount of oversight and monitoring. The best method for quick and easy monitoring is using carpool hangtags, stickers, or other identifiers. In the event a vehicle is parked in a space without the required identification, a progressive policy of warning and enforcement will work best to ensure compliance. Use the first time you reach out as an opportunity to encourage the driver to participate in the carpool program explain how the spaces are used.

Process

Establish an easy way for carpool groups to get the required identification for their participants. This involves a clear set of guidelines for what constitutes a group, and when and how the preferential spots can be used. Typically this will include an application process, a way of approving carpool groups, maintaining the policies so that they are consistent, and keeping up with changes and annual renewals.

Placement

Nothing beats the finding parking quickly, easily, and right up front. Put designated carpool parking spaces as close to the front door or garage elevators as possible. As a bonus when the cars and spots are clearly marked for “carpools only” you add lots of visibility for the program.

Partners

The challenge to growing any carpool program is getting commuters into ridesharing groups. With people coming from here, there, and everywhere, and a wide range of work schedules, where does one even start? A simple bulletin board posting can be very effective, internal communications platforms such as slack channels or intranet hubs can also be used. A popular solution is an online carpool ridematching database. eCommuter.org is NVTMA’s private, member-based, platform that provides commuters with the ability to search for and find carpool partners. Participants input their commuting information into the secure database and see a list of potential carpool partners that match their own route and schedule. By making it simple and easy to find people to carpool with, the more likely commuters will give it a try.

Programs

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest hurdles to carpooling is the question “what would I do in an emergency if I don’t have my car?” Emergency Ride Home (ERH) programs ensure that if there is an emergency during the workweek, green commuters will not be left stranded at work. These programs typically offer free or subsidized transportation on the very rare occasions a commuter needs them.

The Neponset Valley TMA, offers a popular turnkey program. In the event of an emergency, transportation is provided by Lyft™, taxi, or Enterprise Rent-A-Car® — usually within thirty minutes — and at no cost to the commuter.

See how to make daily travel in the Neponset Valley region as easy, cost-effective, and enjoyable as possible. Get the conversation started and consider joining the NVTMA today! A non-profit organization operating in Canton, Dedham, Foxborough, Norwood, and Westwood, MA.

This blog post originally appeared on the TransAction Associates blog, Driven. This content has been customized for Neponset Valley TMA and is redistributed here with permission [source: https://www.transactionassoc.com/preferential-carpool-parking-its-not-an-incentiveunless-its-an-incentive].