Ridesharing to Work for County Employees and Commuters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Santa Clara County – Beginning next week Santa Clara County’s 17,000 employees will be able to get a ride to and from work for just a dollar each way using the Scoop rideshare service.

Last year Supervisor Ken Yeager asked County staff to explore using a mobile rideshare platform as an alternative to the little used County carpool program. The agreement with Scoop was approved by the Board of Supervisors and the County’s Finance and Government Operations Committee, chaired by County Supervisor Joe Simitian, who pushed hard for the program.

“County government is actually the second largest employer in Santa Clara County so getting a significant number of our workers out of their cars will have a meaningful impact of the region’s traffic congestion and air quality,” said Supervisor Yeager.

Rideshare benefit programs are already being used by several major county employers including Stanford University, Foothill College, and the City of Palo Alto.

“It’s important to note that every commuter who lives and works in Santa Clara County benefits too,” said Simitian, “because every car we take off the road improves the commute for all of us.”

Simitian says working with an existing rideshare service on a trial basis is “a good opportunity for the County. It’ll get people to work in an efficient and environmentally friendly way.”

The Board of Supervisors approved $10,000 in funding.  The pilot program will last for one year or until the funding is exhausted. At that point, the Board will review the program’s popularity and effectiveness before deciding whether or not to continue.

The Scoop app works on both iOS and Android devices.

As part of the contract, Scoop will provide regular and detailed reports about the total number of active users and the savings the ridesharing is generating in greenhouse gas emissions, commute miles and employee transportation costs.