Here is a rundown of the 2010 Commuter Challenge statistics compared to the previous years

Number of Organizations Participating
2010: 164
2009: 138
2008: 117

Number of People Participating (logged at least 1 sustainable commute)
2010: 1,848
2009: 1,748
2008: 1,482

Total number of Sustainable Commutes logged
2010: 20,522
2009: 19,967
2008: 16,609

Fun Fact
If all of these people drove alone for those 20,522 commutes, that would be equal to filling up every downtown parking structure and lot with cars for 5 days in a row!

Total Sustainable Miles logged and CO2 Avoided
2010: 326,992 miles and 279,871 lbs
2009: 286,883 miles and 253, 433 lbs
2008: 247,413 miles and 211,760 lbs

Fun Facts
What is 326,992 miles?  That’s like driving around the earth 13 times!

By not driving those miles alone, Commuter Challenge participants saved a collective $441,535 for the month of May. That’s like each person in the Commuter Challenge getting a $239 bonus for the month! (from the True Cost of Driving Calculator)

The amount of CO2 (a greenhouse gas) avoided during the Commuter Challenge is equivalent to

• The C02 emissions from 14,280 gallons of gasoline and 295 barrels of oil
• The C02 equivalent of the energy use of 10 homes for a year
• The amount of carbon sequestered annually by 27 acres of pine or fir forest or by 3,255 tree seedlings grown for 10 years.

(from the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator)

Total Commuter Challenge Ambassadors
2010: 33
2009: 60
2008: 47

A New York Times Blog recently posted that public transit ridership declined by 3.8% during the first nine months of 2009.  Not surprising given the lower gas prices and unemployment stats for 2009.   The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority experienced similar declines during that time.   Also of note is that transit ridership in San Francisco actually increased during this time.

One thing the blog post doesn’t consider is the change in automobile use during this time.  Were people also driving less because they didn’t have the money to go shopping etc?  Or maybe people were driving more because gas is cheap.  I am sure this stat is out there somewhere.

It would also be interesting to consider who stopped taking the bus.  Did people who always take the bus simply take the bus less?  Or did people who could choose between driving or busing choose to drive?  It’s not as if all transit riders are the same.  It would be very interesting to delve into this data as well.

For a somewhat basic breakdown of this concept, in the APTA report, it appears that ridership on Commuter Rail and Buses declined about 5% while ridership on Heavy Rail and Light Rail declined to a lesser degree (about 3% and 1% respectively) .  Trolley ridership actually increased by .6%   It would be interesting to see why the declines are different.  Any thoughts?

So I guess the take home lesson in all of this (which we’ve known here at the getDowntown Program for a while now) is that cost matters when it comes to transportation choices.  Most people will be more likely to change their commuting behavior when it starts to hit their pocketbook.  People are also more likely to change their commuting behavior when they live closer to where they work (within 4 miles or so).

As we enter a New Year and continue to have debates surrounding healthcare and global warming, how does transportation (and commuting in particular) fit into this picture?  What would our world look like if more people in Ann Arbor (and the US) used sustainable transportation?  What problems would this solve (or create)?

If you are interested in transit issues in Washtenaw County, you should check this out.

The Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) just released it’s Long Range Transportation Plan for 2035.  This plan document is a transit geeks wet dream, with maps, charts, analyses and more.

Click here to check out the WATS Transportation Plan document (all 188 pages of it!).

Commuter Challenge 2009 is finally over.  Whew!  We are still working on wrapping everything up.  But I do have the final stats and their comparisons from the last two years:

Number of organizations participating

2009: 140
2008: 117
2007: 66

Number of people participating (logged at least 1 sustainable commute)

2009: 1,806
2008: 1,482
2007: 231

Total number of sustainable commutes logged

2009: 20,391
2008: 15,407
2007: 9,407

Total sustainable miles logged and CO2 reduced

2009: 296,103 miles and 253, 433 lbs
2008: 247,413 miles and 211,760 lbs
2007: 112,813 miles and 96,556 lbs

Total Commuter Challenge Ambassadors

2009: 60
2008: 47
2007: N/A

The Winners

We will be announcing the Winners of the following awards at our Commuter Challenge Awards Ceremony on June 10th, 6pm, Conor O’Neills:

Commuter-Friendly Workplace Award
Awarded to the Commuter Challenge winners in each size category

Super Commuter Award
Awarded to a person who shows a great commitment to sustainable transportation and who got the most votes in our Commuter Challenge ballot.

Multi-Modal Super Commuter Award
Awarded to the person who used the most types of sustainable transportation during the Challenge.

getDowntown Leadership Award
Awarded to the CEO/Manager who shows leadership and a great commitment to sustainable transportation and who got the most votes in our Commuter Challenge ballot.

Alpha Ambassador Award
Awarded to the Commuter Challenge Ambassador (or Ambassadors) who got the most votes in our Commuter Challenge ballot.

Green Hero Award
Awarded to the Company who shows the greatest commitment to sustainability for the Commuter Challenge and beyond.

Best Ambassador Blog Post
Awarded to the blog poster who got the most votes in our Commuter Challenge Ballot.

We will also announce the winners of these awards on the getDowntown blog on Thursday, June 11th.

Finally, we have a Commuter Challenge eval survey that people are filling out.  Hope to have the results of that soon.