Houston Employee Commute Options Program: An Analysis of Options and TheirPotential Energy and Emissions Benefits

摘要

A specific program of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments is the Employer TripReduction Program (ETR), which is sometimes recognized as the Employee Commute Options (ECO) program. In Cooperation with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (THRCC), a data base of submitted and approved ETR plans and worksite registration forms were developed. The database represents approximately 1,200 worksites that accounts for 396,488 employees in the eight-county nonattainment area that arrive to the worksite between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential impact of the ETR program on Houston's mobile source emissions and fuel consumption. A secondary objective was to evaluate the characteristics of the ETR program through plans submitted by affected worksites. The ETR database was used to evaluate the potential effectiveness of the ETR program throughout the eight-county nonattainment area had it achieved 100 percent compliance and met the target average passenger occupancies set in the plan. To supplement this analysis, a survey was conducted to determine the indirect trip rates caused as result of participation in the ETR program. The database was also used for an initial examination into the preferences of employees and employers in choosing specific transportation control measures. Recommendations for future research, based on the finding from this study, are also presented in this report.