County Urged to OK Car-Pool Incentives

Ventura County employees should continue to be paid to share rides to work while alternative plans are drawn up to offer time off instead as an incentive to induce them to use car pools next year, a county official said.

Alan Bandoli, Ventura County employee transportation coordinator, said the Board of Supervisors should approve a program today that continues to encourage employees to share rides to work.

But supervisors should also direct department heads to begin studying the possibility of establishing a parking fee program to motivate workers to find alternatives to driving their cars to work.

Supervisors had earlier asked Bandoli to devise alternatives to the cash-incentive plan as a means of saving money. The county spent about $330,000 on the incentive program last year.

Under Rule 210, the county’s strict trip-reduction ordinance adopted to help curb air pollution, businesses and agencies employing 100 or more people must provide incentives to reduce the number of people driving alone to work. The initial target is an average of 1.35 people per car.

By 1997, however, average ridership must rise to 1.5 people per car, or three people for every two vehicles.

According to a survey conducted last year, the county is in compliance with the current mandate at 1.38 people per car. But the county might have trouble reaching the 1.5-people-per-car goal by 1997, as Rule 210 requires, Bandoli told supervisors in his report.

He recommends that the board approve a series of programs aimed at reaching the ride-sharing goal, including continuing the four-day workweek for most county employees.

To otherwise reach the requirements of Rule 210, the board could require employees to car-pool as a condition of employment, or direct department heads to implement individual ride-sharing programs, Bandoli said.