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Thurston Regional Planning Council briefs commissioners on updated local Commute Trip Reduction plan and new targets
Summary
TRPC staff presented an updated local Commute Trip Reduction plan that resets the baseline using a new state survey tool and establishes revised targets to reflect increased telework and changed commute patterns.
Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) staff briefed the Thurston County commissioners on an updated local Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) plan on April 15, noting the plan integrates county transportation and land‑use goals and sets new regional targets.
Rebecca Harvey, Thurston County climate mitigation senior planning manager, and Veronica Jarvis of TRPC explained that CTR law (adopted as part of Washington’s Clean Air Act) applies to large employers and encourages reductions in single-occupancy vehicle trips through telework, transit, carpooling, biking, walking and compressed workweeks. TRPC said the state procured a new survey tool that collects day‑of‑week commute details and produced a new baseline from the 2023 survey; the updated baseline and targets reflect higher telework rates observed in Thurston County, largely driven by the state workforce.
TRPC staff explained the county’s affected worksites are limited in number (two to four per jurisdiction in the affected areas), including the county’s Tilley Road worksite and the Evergreen State College worksite (now inside Olympia’s commute trip area). Staff said updated local targets were set with the new baseline; commissioners asked about how the targets are measured and reported. TRPC said surveys are conducted every two years (next scheduled for fall) and offered to provide worksite‑level data to any interested employer or commissioner.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about how teleworkers are counted (TRPC said teleworkers were explicitly included in the survey as avoided trips), why targets changed and how the data would be tracked. TRPC staff said the updated survey tool collects more granular day‑by‑day data, which helps capture hybrid work patterns and provides a clearer baseline for periodic target measurement.
The CTR plan was scheduled for the county business agenda that afternoon for the board’s acknowledgment and for a public hearing item in the coming weeks.
