Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Importance of Being a Logger

Sometimes folks will tell us that they always take the bus or bicycle to work but that they don’t log their trips. Reasons vary, but usually we hear some variation of, “I don’t do it for a gift card, I do it for the environment.”

On the one hand, we’re thrilled that they’re doing something besides driving alone to work. On the other, those logged commutes are the only way we have of tracking how many people are participating in Smart Trips on any given day, what mode of transportation participants are using and where they’re going to and from.

The information is important for more than just the distribution of gift cards. The data collected may be used in grant applications or as a tool for helping to make decisions about allocating transportation resources. The logs also help determine how much pollution has been removed from the region’s air and how many vehicles have been removed from the roadways.

So the next time you’re going to make a clean commute, yes, do it for the environment. Then, please take a moment to log your trip. Do it for the gift card. And thank you.

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