Valley of the Sun Fast Facts

The Valley of the Sun’s Best Workplaces for Commuters

• On June 23, 2004, 60 employers will be recognized on the first annual Valley of the Sun’s Best Workplaces for Commuters^SM list. This represents almost 85,000 employees that are covered by these great commuter benefits.
• On average, 25% or 21,250 commuters use an alternate mode of transportation or alternate schedule (telework or compressed work week) of the Valley’s BWC employers on the list save an estimated 56.7 million miles of travel and eliminate 153,000 pounds of pollution from the air per year.
• To qualify as a BWC employer, the employer must have or be able to attain within a year of applying, an alternative mode use rate of at least 14%. The 60 Valley employers that made the list already have a 25% alternative mode use rate on average…that’s 78% above the national requirement.

Local Commuting Facts

• The average annual Valley of the Sun traffic delay per capita for 2001 was 28 hours equally over 80 million hours delayed in traffic which is twice as much as 1994 (2001 data).
• The traffic delays waste 127 million gallons of fuel and cost $540 per person per year. (Texas Transportation Institute)
• The fuel wasted by Phoenix area drivers delayed in traffic each year would create a lake the size of the entire playing field of Bank One Ballpark, 120 feet deep - the height of a 10-story building.
• To maintain (not improve) current congestion levels, the Phoenix area would need to add 186 new lane miles per year to its freeways and streets.
• Valley of the Sun residents perceive traffic as the number one regional problem. (Valley Metro’s 2004 TDM Survey)
• Of the 1.46 million total commuters, 658,000 or 45% use an Alternate Mode of Transportation or work schedule (telework or compressed week) once a week. The largest alternate mode used is carpooling with 24% (up from 20% in 2003). In addition, 12% telework, 16% have a compressed work week.
• The estimated annual savings of the estimated 659,000 commuters using alternate modes and schedules in the Valley is 1.9 billion vehicle miles of travel, 51 million pounds of pollution not emitted, 95 million gallons of gasoline and $199.5 million in gas cost savings alone.

National Commuting Facts

• The average annual delay per peak-road traveler in 75 urban areas climbed to 62 hours in 2000 from 16 hours in 1982. The total cost of congestion in 2000 came to $67.5 billion, which was the value of 3.6 billion hours of delay and 5.7 billion gallons of excess fuel consumed, not to mention lost worker productivity. (Texas Transportation Institute)
• Nearly 50 percent of workers describe their commutes as unsatisfying or stressful, and 36 percent say they would be willing to take a 10 percent pay cut or more for a shorter commute. (HR Magazine Survey, Oct. 2001) And, 96% of Valley residents say traffic congestion is a big or moderate problem, with 33% saying it is a big problem (2004 TDM Survey)
• Employees with commuter benefits are 8 times more likely to use transit than those who don’t have them. (2001 Xylo survey)

Health Facts

• Walking to work gives you a 20 percent less chance of getting breast cancer, a 30 percent less chance of getting heart disease, a 50 percent less chance of diabetes, and would help you live longer and healthier into old age. (Nurse’s Health Study, Archives of Internal Medicine; New England Journal of Medicine)
• About 60 percent of Americans lead completely sedentary lifestyles, and 40 percent are clinically overweight. (1998 report of the American Medical Association)
• Research conducted in 1999 by the Centers for Disease Control found that “obesity and overweight are linked to the nation’s number one killer--heart disease--as well as diabetes and other chronic conditions.” The report also states that one reason for Americans’ sedentary lifestyle is that “walking and cycling have been replaced by automobile travel for all but the shortest distances.” (October 27, 1999 issue of the JAMA)