Tumwater to place commute trip reduction plan update on next consent agenda

Veronica Jarvis, who runs the Commute Trip Reduction program at the Thurston Regional Planning Council, told the Tumwater City Council on March 25 that the agency has completed a local plan update and will coordinate with city staff on next steps.

The plan update, presented during a council work session, summarizes CTR program requirements and local survey results and proposes integrating commute trip reduction strategies into the city’s other planning documents. “My name's Veronica Jarvis, and I work at Thurston Regional Planning Council. I run the commute trip reduction program, and I'm here tonight to tell you about a commute trip reduction local plan update that we've been doing, in concert with your city staff,” Jarvis said.

The plan responds to a state law enacted in 1991 that requires affected large employers to adopt strategies to reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips during peak hours. Jarvis told the council the law typically applies to worksites with 100 or more employees that have peak commute hours from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and that employers must submit program reporting and biannual employee surveys. She said Thurston County has a regional version of the rule that also affects state agencies that have relocated outside Olympia.

Jarvis described recent survey-method changes the region used to better capture telework and compressed schedules, and she said the new survey shows a significant increase in people working from home compared with pre-pandemic results. She noted that Tumwater historically had a strong carpooling rate that has declined as telework rose, and that the program also tracks greenhouse gas metrics useful to the city's sustainability reporting.

Administrator Parks told council members the resolution that formally adopts the local plan is expected to appear on the council's consent agenda at the next business meeting, and that if any council member wants fuller discussion they may pull the item from consent. “This item is expected to be on the council's consent agenda at the next business meeting, which will mean that it will be adopted at that point in time. If a council member wants to pull it off the consent agenda and have a conversation about that, we will be able to do that at the next meeting,” Administrator Parks said.

Council members asked staff and Jarvis about outreach to state facilities and about tools the CTR program uses to influence behavior, including vanpool subsidies and targeted “nudges” or promotions to encourage commuting alternatives. Jarvis said the program coordinates with employee transportation coordinators at each affected worksite, provides outreach through social platforms and neighborhood groups, and works with the state Office of Financial Management and agency facility planners when agencies consolidate or move.

No formal vote was taken at the March 25 work session. The council will act on the resolution at the next business meeting unless a member removes it from consent for discussion.