Business leaders launch Reboot the Commute campaign

Hannah Zickmund rolls up on her seafoam green bike to Charleston’s Reboot the Commute kickoff event, a purple plastic basket attached to the back to carry whatever she needs to bring with her. It’s a familiar form of transportation for the South Carolina Aquarium employee, who rides her bike to work each day.

“Me and my boyfriend moved downtown to cut back on the commute. It’s cut back on our stress and helps considerably.”

 

Eighteen large local employers, including the Medical University of South Carolina, Boeing, Benefitfocus and Google South Carolina, have signed on to encourage employees such as Zickmund to keep going and recruit others to try commuting alternatives, too. Anita Zucker serves as chairwoman of the Economic Leadership Council of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance. The ELC is leading the campaign.

“Our regional population is over 788,000. It’s projected to be a million within 10 years,” Zucker says. “Since 2010, our community has created more than 50,000 new jobs with another 35,000 expected over the next five years. It’s amazing to think of the differences.

 

“If we are to create and sustain a community where people and businesses thrive for generations, where we nurture our environment, character and culture, we must invest in infrastructure and housing and we must remake how we commute.”

Right now, Zucker says, “Eighty percent of us drive alone in our car to work. Sixty percent of us commute between 6 and 8:30 a.m. Each of us can immediately be part of the solution by altering how and when we commute, and encouraging our employees to do the same.”

 

Reboot the Commute includes an online guide for companies and employees to use to check out alternatives to solo car rides to work. Suggestions include telecommuting, staggered start times, ridesharing and using CARTA and LowcountryGO.

MUSC employee Tony Ciuffo was an early adopter of commuting alternatives. He drives from his home in Pinopolis each day to a Carta stop in North Charleston and rides a bus into work. “Roughly by taking Carta every day, I save over 8,300 miles a year on my vehicle. Think about that. That’s over 500 gallons of gas, and more importantly, according to the figures I found online, I’m saving over $6,000 dollars a year.”

But as Zickmund shows, you don’t have to live far from work to embrace the concepts behind Reboot the Commute. “I have a quick two-mile commute. It’s great.”