July 2008
Randy Rosvold, Van-GO! program manager, discusses transportation options with a Northwest Airlines employee.
Employer Spotlight:
Northwest Airlines
Employee team helps colleagues
discover transportation options
When an employee involvement team at Northwest Airlines examined ways to reduce parking demand at one of the airline’s office buildings, the group teamed up with Metro Transit to find solutions.
The challenge? Parking was at a premium at Northwest’s data center building, which is located in Eagan.
“One of the situations we had to weigh in on was deciding whether to build more spaces or make better use of what we had,” said Paul Stewart, a member of Northwest’s employee involvement team.
Instead of creating new spaces, encouraging employees to consider and adopt alternate methods of transportation was deemed the best approach, Stewart said, and a phone call to Metro Transit started the process to educate employees on their transportation options.
Zip code party broke the ice
With Metro Transit’s help, Northwest employees were surveyed to determine commuting patterns and their interest in ridesharing. A Commuter Fair was then held onsite, providing information on options such as taking transit, carpooling and vanpooling. At that event, employees could see a map where other co-workers – all interested in sharing a ride – lived in the Twin Cities.
A week later, employees were invited to a zip code party, where they could meet others who lived in the same area. “That party was a big success,” said Kari Erickson, another member of the employee involvement team working on parking and transportation.
“It was a great way for people to get acquainted and start establishing some carpools,” she said.
Success story
The team’s work has been a resounding success. At last count, 33 carpools have been formed; prior to this initiative, there were no registered carpools at the Eagan facility. In addition, one group of employees hopes to form a vanpool through the Van-GO! program.
“We offered education, and of course, commuters are dealing with nearly $4 for a gallon of gas,” Stewart said. “More people are at a tipping point where they’re willing to try carpooling.”
“It’s important to get people to open their minds to transportation options that they probably didn’t know existed,” Erickson added.
Read more about sharing the ride.
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