TDM at Seattle Children’s Hospital

TDM at Seattle Children’s Hospital provides an early and successful example of providing drivers with cash incentives to offset losing free parking. It is also one of the few ongoing examples of a program that pays people if they take a non-SOV way to work.

This program reduced the proportion of people driving alone to work. To make that less appealing, the program eliminated free parking and monthly parking passes. It also provided incentives for trying alternative modes of travel. These included partially subsidized transit passes, and a Commute Bonus for each day of not driving alone to work. The hospital’s top managers recognized the strategic importance of the program and helped promote it internally. The CEO modeled the desired behaviors by taking transit and riding the hospital’s shuttle most days.

The organization identified two main areas where it had the greatest influence to make the desired changes. The first was where its policies aligned with those changes. The second area was to provide related workplace amenities (e.g., putting in lockers, showers, and bike parking.) Employees received semi-annual commute summaries showing how they got to work, bonuses earned, and parking fees paid.

The program was based on a barriers and benefits analysis for each mode of travel. Transit subsidies were adjusted when transit costs skyrocketed

By 2017, each hospital employee was taking just under half as many drive-alone (SOV) commutes on average, compared with 1995. Only 33% of employees drove to work alone, down from 73% in 1995. Further, the program helped attract and retain quality employees. It also enabled the hospital to avoid spending $20 million to build new parking facilities.

This listing summarizes the full-length case study on the Tools of Change website at www.toolsofchange.com/en/case-studies/detail/745.

Seattle, Washington, USA

Hospital, Parking Cashout, TDM, Transportation Demand Management,