FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 1, 2017

Contact:  Shannon Binns
[email protected]
704-338-2610

Way2Go CLT looks to slash 1 million vehicle miles traveled

1 March 2017 — Charlotte, North Carolina, already poised for an aggressive expansion of its mass-transit system, is joining a fast-growing roster of cities across the United States and around the world embracing sustainable mobility.

Sustain Charlotte, in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), Kimley-Horn, Integra Architecture and the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), today announced the launch of Way2Go CLT, an eight-month, region-wide challenge to drive one million fewer miles alone — single-occupancy vehicle miles traveled (VMTs).

A smart, easy-to-use website and app, available through myway2goclt.org and powered by RideAmigos, a leading national transportation demand management platform, allows participants to log miles traveled by foot, bike, transit or carpool — no matter the purpose or destination. The integrated app will automatically detect when a commute has been taken, based on the user’s home and work addresses, eliminating the need for users to remember to log their commute.

Sustain Charlotte Executive Director Shannon Binns, long a champion of sustainable mobility, explained that people, whether individually or in corporate and neighborhood teams, can use Way2Go CLT to accumulate their avoided miles and earn great rewards.

“Excessive or needless single-occupancy driving clogs our streets, leads to more accidents, increases air pollution, and raises infrastructure spending. For families, the use of sustainable modes of transportation enhances health, makes for a far more productive use of commuting time, builds friendships and relationships, and can save thousands of dollars per year in gas and vehicle maintenance. It is also one way for everyone, including families, businesses and the public sector, to come together to reduce carbon emissions and lessen our contribution to climate change.”

While the incentives are designed to encourage participation, NCDOT’s Debra Collins, who directs the agency’s Public Transportation Division providing the funding for Way2Go CLT, said: “The N.C. Department of Transportation is always looking for innovative ways to change transportation behaviors around the state. We are fortunate to partner alongside many passionate organizations, such as Sustain Charlotte, that have inventive concepts for reducing congestion while connecting residents with safe and efficient modes of travel.” 

Corporate participants, for their part, including thus far Duke Energy, OrthoCarolina, Shook Kelley, S&D Coffee & Tea, Optima Engineering, and others, welcome the platform’s role in bettering their employees’ commutes, a growing practice called commute demand management and deployed increasingly to improve employee motivation and productivity.

Several companies and local government agencies and more than a dozen neighborhoods have formed Way2Go CLT teams (see list below), with new ones joining weekly. Teams can be of any number of people, within or outside these organizations. To level the playing field across teams and entities, the platform deploys a normalization tool that ranks teams based on how many trips they log relative to number of participants. 

If a person logs at least 10 non-single-occupancy trips during any given month, he or she will be entered for a chance to win monthly prizes, which include local gift cards, local business experiences and others. Prizes will be chosen to support local businesses and in turn, the local economy. 

The entities with Way2Go CLT teams as of the date of this press release are: 

Employers

Charlotte Department of Transportation

City of Charlotte Neighborhood and Business Services

Crown Town Compost

Duke Energy

Kimley-Horn

Optima Engineering

Shook Kelley

S&D Coffee and Tea

TIAA

Neighborhoods

Belmont

Chantilly

Colonial Village

Cotswold

First Ward

Friends of Fourth Ward

Mallard Grove HOA

NoDa

Plaza Midwood

Prosperity Village

Sedgefield

South End

Villa Heights

Yorkmont

Organizations

AARP

Back Creek Presbyterian Church

Inline Charlotte

Safe Alliance

Sierra Club - Central Piedmont Group

UNC Charlotte

Way2Go CLT is sponsored by North Carolina Department of Transportation, Kimley-Horn, and Integra Architecture

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ABOUT SUSTAIN CHARLOTTE

Sustain Charlotte is a community-based nonprofit organization dedicated to educating, engaging and uniting citizens to solve Charlotte’s sustainability challenges. We inspire choices that lead to a healthy, vibrant, and equitable community for generations to come.  For more information about Sustain Charlotte, visit www.sustaincharlotte.org.