The city of Renton is continuing a program to encourage high-occupancy commuting, despite the program’s need decreasing since the pandemic.

The Renton City Council approved a funding agreement from the Washington State Department of Transportation to receive $50,900 for the city’s Commute Trip Reduction Program.

Renton Transportation Planning Manager Ellen Talbo said the program, which is required by the Washington State Clean Air Act, focuses on encouraging and promoting the reduction of single-occupancy vehicle commuting by using transit or other forms of commuting that gets cars off the road. Talbo said the state has a technical working group that provides guidance and resources to cities, such as ways to improve carpooling.

For city employees, Renton participates in the ORCA Business Passport Program, a commuter package offered to major employers in King County, which provides a fully-paid pass for the employees and access to King County Metro Vanpool system. On a larger scale, Talbo said the city of Renton works with major employers such as Valley Medical, Boeing and Renton Technical College to survey the employees’ commute patterns.

“Based on the data, we work to try to get them resources to link them up with things like ORCA Business Passport so that those major employers can offer those kinds of commute products to their employers,” Talbo said.

Since COVID-19, the biggest changes to the program are due to the widespread adoption of hybrid and work-from-home employees. Talbo said it has changed the strategy and frequency of the surveying.

“A lot of people were actually not commuting, which is actually great for the state and city’s goals of reducing cars on the road, but it just meant that we took a pause from some of the normal practices that we do, such as surveying work sites and trying to get data,” Talbo said.

Talbo said that while the state’s collective pool of funding for cities to implement programs like this one has increased, this year Renton has received a reduced level of funding because of changes to eligibility requirements.

“We received a reduced amount of funds because we have not been able to survey as often through COVID,” Talbo said. “Now, we are trying to get back to surveying our worksites and working with our worksites.”

Talbo said since she came to the city in 2022, they have continued to promote taking transit or biking to work to promote trip-making habits that don’t rely on cars. Last year, the city partnered with Cascade Bicycle Club for the first time to sponsor an energizer station along Cedar River Trail to encourage biking during Bike To Work month in May.

“Renton has a really great trail system,” Talbo said. “We actually do have quite a bit of network for interregional commuting by bike that is separated off-street. We wanted to partner with Cascade Bike Club to promote that aspect of it.”

Talbo said the program was the most effective pre-COVID, but the change in work habits have achieved the biggest goal in commute reduction. She said they will continue to encourage sustainability, while having people working in our downtown spaces.

“I think it is going to be interesting how companies and businesses choose to either encourage sustainable communing, if at all, or encourage being able to return to the street by foot or bike so we are not losing that urban feel,” Talbo said.