A Commuter Club with PRIZES!

The Sacramento Transportation Management Association offers downtown commuters an opportunity to win prizes in exchange for keeping a diary of their daily commute. Information from the diaries is used to track regional commute travel trends. I'm all for sharing a little private information in exchange for payola.

To participate, you must work in downtown Sacramento, which is defined as east to Howe Avenue (Sac State) and 65th Street (SMUD and UCDMC), north to Richards Boulevard and south to Florin Road, (Kaiser South).

According to the Sacramento Commuter Club Web site:

Commuter Club is here to help you find smarter ways to travel on our region's crowded streets and highways, because traffic jams and air pollution are not healthy for our physical or mental well-being.

The Sacramento TMA, which provides Commuter Club, is working to make it easier to find a carpool or vanpool, to try transit, and to have safer routes for bicyclists.

The TMA believes in finding solutions to our dependence on foreign oil. To help you find options that work into your lifestyle, check out www.globalwarming.net and www.epa.gov/globalwarming

Current Available Prizes

• A Spin on the $5,000 Cash Wheel
  The Cash Wheel has $5,000 in prizes: three $500 cash prizes, ten $100 prizes and fifty $50 cash prizes. The "big spin" will take place in December.
  
  
• Specialty Coffee Card - Value $5
  $5 gift card to Starbucks, redeemable at any location nationwide.
  
  
• $10 Fandango Bucks
  Get $10 in Fandango Bucks which you can redeem online towards the cost of movie tickets.
  
  
• Specialty Coffee Card - Value $10
  $10 gift card to Starbucks, redeemable at any location nationwide.
  
  
• $20 Fandango Bucks
  Get $20 in Fandango Bucks which you can redeem online towards the cost of movie tickets.

The diary is easy enough to manage. This is what it looks like:

The log tracks roundtrip miles. For instance, if you take the bus four miles every day to work, your primary commute is transit and your miles are eight. But if you drive three miles to meet a vanpool, and then ride 20 miles in the vanpool, then your primary commute is vanpool, 40 miles a day, and your secondary commute (the shorter segment) is drive, six miles a day.

For purposes of my Transitarian Diet, I'm logging my afternoon walk as a secondary commute. Alas, such wild abuse of the system will probably damage the intricate matrix being built.

You don't have to be a Transitarian to participate. The commute options cover all manner of sins:

My employer is not part of the Sacramento Transportation Management Association. If your employer is a member, there are a number of other benefits, including the "Guaranteed Ride Home."

Take The Pledge