On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioner's Office reviewed a proposal by the Clean Air Force of Central Texas and the Environmental Defense Fund that would a create a program where employees in downtown Austin would be paid to ride a new "business class" bus. Such a program would be a joint-venture between the City of Austin, Travis County, Austin Energy and downtown businesses. The goal of the project is to reduce carbon emissions, reduce traffic, and free up more parking spaces in an already crowded downtown.
This new bus service would be modeled after successful projects implemented by major corporations such as Ebay, Google and Microsoft. Bus features could include tray tables, beverage and snack service, wireless internet, power outlets, and other features found in business class sections of trains and airplanes.
Under the program, downtown businesses would receive a pre-tax deduction for offering the bus service to its employees as part of their benefits package. Workers could receive up to $230 a month (tax-free) for commuting via the bus.
City and county officials will review the proposal and give a report in several weeks, but a pilot program could launch as soon as June 2010.
For related information, read this New York Times article about the Google shuttle service.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
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It should be noted that this is not an executive bus, but rather a commute shuttle. And, at present, this issues is only on the Commissioners Court agenda. It is still with City staff and has not risen to the Council level yet.
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