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Commuter cash Q: What is the minimum number of months I can participate and still earn incentives?A: Three months, two days per week. You must participate in the program for at least 3 months and you must reduce your driving by at least 2 days per week on average. Q: Earnings: Pro-rated earnings: How much will I earn if I reduce my driving for less than 5 days per week on average and/or for less than one year? Please refer to the following chart: Note: As you can see, you earn twice as much per month for months one through three (maximum of $20 per month) compared to how much you earn per month for months 4 through 12 (maximum of $10 per month).
Q: Earnings: Why do you earn twice as much per month for the first three months? A: You earn more in the beginning of the program because that is the most challenging time of the program - when you are developing and solidifying your new commuting habits. We want to give you a bigger incentive in the first few months to help motivate you to "get over the hump." As you'll probably see, after three months it's easier to maintain the new habits after they have been established - but you still deserve incentives. Q: Payment: Will the City actually send me cash currency as my incentives? A: Not exactly. You will receive a VISA cash card, which works like cash. This is a safer way to send incentives in the mail and avoids expenses if incentives somehow get lost in the mail. Q: Payment: How does a cash card work? A: A VISA cash card works much like a credit card. It is accepted wherever VISA credit cards are accepted. However, unlike a credit card, a cash card is "charged up" with a dollar value on the card. Each time you buy something with the card, the cost of the purchase is deducted from the card's value. In other words, it works a lot like a gift card popular at department stores and coffee shops. Q: Timeline: Why do I have to complete my "year" by April of 2009? A: This program if funded by a state grant, which requires that the program is completed by that time. Q: What if there is not a full year left in the program by the time I sign up? A: We still encourage you to participate. You will still earn incentives and you will benefit from the higher incentive for the first three months you participate. Also, there is a possibility that the program may receive additional funds to provide additional incentives beyond May 2006. However, at this time we can not promise any incentive beyond the incentives we are currently offering. Q: Carpooling: If I my friend and I switch from commuting by driving alone to commuting by carpooling, do we both earn the full incentives? A: No, you would earn one set of incentive between the two of you. This is because you would convert two cars commuting to work into one car commuting to work. This is great, but you only get credit for the cars you take off the road. If you both convert from driving alone to biking, walking or busing, then you would be converting two cars commuting to work to zero cars commuting to work, and each of you would earn the incentives. We leave it up to the carpoolers to decide how to share the incentive. However, we ask that only one of the carpoolers register and receive the incentives. That person can then work out the details with their carpool partner. Refer a Friend Q: Why can't two people refer each other? A: The purpose of the referral is to encourage word of mouth about the program and to reward people who spread the word about the program. If person A refers person B, person B can not then "spread the word " to person A because person A already knows about the program. General Q: I haven't driven alone to work for years because I take the bus. But this means I'm not eligible for Commuter Cash. Why not and what do I get for leaving my car at home and riding the bus all these years? A: Thank you for being part of the solution. We would love to provide you with a reward for doing your part all these years. However, the state grant which funds this program requires that the incentives are for people who reduce driving alone commuting, rather than people who have already made the change. In addition to that requirement, the program's funds are limited and we believe we will have the greatest impact if we provide incentives to encourage people to reduce driving to work as opposed to provide rewards to people who are already not driving to work. However, this year we have added the Refer-A-Friend component of the program specifically to provide incentives to you if you can inspire your friends to follow your great example and reduce their driving to work. We have also added the prize drawing. This is a way for us to say "thank you" to new as well as longstanding "drive less" commuters. Q: Signing up for more than one Commuter Cash option: I want to sign up for Commuter Cash but not for Refer-A-Friend. Is that o.k.? A: Certainly. This double sign up is simply a convenience for our participants. If someone does want to be a referrer in the Refer-A-Friend option, we need their contact information so we can provide them with incentives if you earn them. If you don't want to Refer-A-Friend, you simply sign up for Commuter Cash and do nothing about Refer-A-Friend. If someone does refer a friend, we already have their contact information from their Commuter Cash sign up. Have questions? Send us an e-mail at waytogo@seattle.gov. |
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