Climate Action and Resiliency

Summary of objective implementation status (achievements or progress over last year; significant delays or issues, etc.)

To further promote the use of alternative forms of transportation, on October 17, 2023, the board of Supervisors approved an expansion of the Clean Commute program to include:

• Establish a no-cost, reciprocal bus pass pilot program with City of Santa Rosa where City and County employees can ride free on both Sonoma County Transit and Santa Rosa CityBus by showing their ID badge.
• Allow free electric vehicle (EV) charging for County employees for up to 3 hours per day at County-owned charging stations.
• Allow free bike parking at bike lockers located on County campus.
• Increase the Clean Commute Monthly Incentive from $40 to $100 per month per employee using the roughly $135,000 in available program funding.

Key milestone update (include relevant metrics, if applicable)

In May 2022, using funding awarded by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to reduce the drive-alone rates for large employers in the Bay Area, the County launched its Online Trip Tracker. The Online TripTracker allows employees to log their telework and alternate commute days, sign up for pre-tax commuter benefits, and find a carpool. For every telework day or alternate commute trip logged, the system automatically calculates the amount of money saved, calories burned, and CO2 emissions reduced. Since its inception, 1,652 County employees have logged 163,426 trips into the Online Trip Tracker and saved 833 metric tons of CO2.

Coordination and partnership update

This is an internal program for County employees, so there will not be any coordination with the community or cities.  However, the launch of all employee-related programs requires significant coordination between various County departments, including the County Administrator’s Office, Human Resources, ACTTC, ISD, and Public Infrastructure.

Community, equity and climate update

As mentioned above, this is an internal program for County employees.   In terms of equity, by including various modes of transportation into the subsidy program, we are making the program as accessible as possible.  There will always be geographic equity issues with public transportation systems, but that is not within the scope of this objective.  The implementation of this objective will reduce employee commute greenhouse gas emissions.

Funding narrative (If this objective received Strategic Plan funding in year 1 or year 2, please provide a status of expenditures to date.)

There is approximately $135,000 remaining of the Strategic Plan funding for this program, and $50,000 has been budgeted in FY 2023-24 to fund program activities, including an increase to the monthly incentive program and free bike parking. Should program participation be higher than expected, a budgetary adjustment will be included in an upcoming Consolidated Budgetary Adjustment item to increase appropriations.