RideFinders’ first Regional Sustainability awards go to Ameren, Boeing, Citicorp, NGA, WashU
GRANITE CITY — Five area businesses are being recognized for their efforts to promote carpooling and vanpooling to their employees.
RideFinders, the St. Louis region’s free rideshare program, says its inaugural Regional Sustainability Award winners are: Ameren Corporation, The Boeing Company, Citicorp, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and Washington University.
The 2014 award recognizes employers that actively promote sustainable transportation and support the efforts of RideFinders to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.
“These employers go above and beyond to encourage staff or students to carpool or vanpool,” said RideFinders spokeman SJ Morrison. “We are extremely grateful for their commitment to sustainability and wanted to publicly recognize them for their efforts.”
Established in 1994, RideFinders works with more than 700 employers to help individuals get to work or class in a carpool or vanpool. Using RideFinders’ free online ride-matching program, nearly 10,000 commuters participate, throughout the nine-county St. Louis region. Although many employers actively promote ridesharing, the first five recipients were selected due to the level of employee participation and engagement by their on-site Employee Transportation Coordinator.
“Each employer designates a member of their staff to serve as the RideFinders ETC,” said Morrison. “These individuals not only help us administer the program, they act as our ambassadors and we couldn’t do it without them.”
The following ETCs were awarded with a trophy, made from recycled glass, for their efforts:
– Wendy York (Ameren Corp.)
– Paul Kieffer (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency)
– Brenda Culver (Citicorp)
– Rosemary Paul (The Boeing Co.), and
– Andy Heaslet and Melanie Strowmatt (Washington University).
With the assistance of participating employers, RideFinders’ carpools remove nearly 4,500 vehicles and 150,000 driving miles from our region’s roadways every day.
RideFinders also works with area schools to develop “Schoolpools” for students in kindergarten to 12th grade. Individuals who would like to learn more about the RideFinders program are encouraged to visit www.RideFinders.org, e-mail ridefinders@mct.org, call (800) 847-7433 or on Facebook.
