The Tomato Head Steps Up to the Plate

It’s well-known that parking is limited downtown. But not so many are familiar with one solution that’s already available, is FREE, and even rewards participants with gift cards to local businesses for taking part. Hello Smart Trips!

Smart Trips promotes alternatives to driving alone such as bicycling, carpooling, taking transit,walking to work or even working from home. The program helps commuters find carpool partners or bike and transit buddies to help them get started. Nearly 1,000 commuters in the Knoxville area participate in Smart Trips and many of them work at businesses downtown.

This year, The Tomato Head on Market Square decided to encourage its employees to log their commutes with Smart Trips. Many of them already walk or bike to work, so Smart Trips is a natural fit. To inform them of the program,Tomato Head is putting information about the program into its employee manual and mentions it at staff meetings. They also put up posters with information about the program – provided by Smart Trips – in areas where their employeeswould see them. As a further enticement, Tomato Head will donate $500 to the charity of its employees’ choice in the fall – provided they join Smart Trips and log their commutes.

Tomato Head helps to promote Smart Trips in the community by being one of its Commuter Rewards gift card vendors. And also by putting a message on its receipts that informs patrons they can “Eat at Tomato Head for FREE” by being a Smart Trips participant. (Thanks Tomato Head!)

We’ll be checking in periodically to see how they’re doing. If you’re a business owner in downtown Knoxville concerned about how your employees get to work and where they’ll park, consider becoming a Smart Trips’ employer. It’s a FREE program. For more information, contact Smart Trips Outreach Coordinator, Sara Martin at 215-3234.

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And December's Commuter of the Month is...

Congratulations to our December Commuter of the Month...Bill Gurley! Bill is a long-time rider of the Halls Express bus, and he was nominated by two of his fellow KAT commuters who thought he deserved to be recognized for enthusiastically promoting transit to his neighbors in Halls and Fountain City as well as his co-workers at U.T.

Gail Chapman sent us an email telling us about a web site Bill had created to help spread the word about the Hall Express to folks that work downtown, U.T. and TVA. (Good stuff!) And fellow rider Doug Brown tells us, "This gentleman lives and breathes conservation in all avenues from home refuse through travel. He travels the KAT Halls Express. A helpful, kindred spirit with no hate towards anyone. Almost reminds me of the hippy days of the 60's. He even has a short beard. To overlook him would be a shame indeed." Well, that's when we knew we had a winner.We asked Bill to tell us a little about his commute, and how he came to be such a staunch supporter of transit. Bill told us, "I've been working at UT for 24 years. Over the years, I had considered trying out riding the bus several times, but didn't get around to it until about three years ago. Now I feel really stupid that I waited so long! The commuters who ride the Halls Express are a diverse and really friendly group of people. We all enjoy, at various times, talking, reading, listening to music, and just relaxing, while commuting to and from work. My initial motivation for riding the bus was my own environmental concern. I would like to see mass transit grow in our area; I would love to see more people choose transit over "riding alone." But now that I have jumped into transit, I have realized the joy of not fighting the traffic on my own, so there are selfish reasons for riding the bus too!"As most people know by now, the KAT Express routes were threatened with extinction last year. The riders of the Halls Express organized ourselves with a Google Groups list and began a campaign of contacting public officials and media outlets to try to reverse the decision to eliminate express routes. Farragut and Cedar Bluff folks also joined in, and eventually we were able to save our routes. All of the Halls riders are great ambassadors for transit!"
We're glad to have such enthusiastic Smart Trip members like Bill, and congratulate him as our Commuter of the Month! We'll be happily sending him a $25 gift card to Mast General Store to say thanks.