At the Nashville Drive to Work Symposium, panelist Michael Skipper, Executive Director of the Greater Nashville Regional Council, laid out the specifics of a new incentive program that any business in Middle Tennessee can use to get more people to work and reduce traffic, using cash rewards.

With over $1M budgeted for matching grants available, Skipper described what the region can do today to reduce congestion. He says, “It’s about how we manage demand on our roadways” with a focus on the use of incentives as “the carrots” that change or reward behavior. 

Employers can tap advertising and recruiting budgets to sponsor the public rewards program, an ambitious project aimed at every commuter in the region. At the same time, companies of any size are now eligible to receive matching grants for their employee mobility incentives. 

He described how any employer in the seven-county area around and including Nashville, can use the Technology In Transit program to participate in this Public Private Partnership (P3).

Using a 501c3 structure operated by the Greater Nashville Regional Council, corporations make contributions that are deductible. These funds unlock public grant funding, and together, directly benefit the employees and the employer as they cooperate to achieve commute trip reduction goals and reduce environmental impacts.

Everyone is individually contributing to pollution with our tailpipe emissions but, in the case of employer-required commutes, the environmental responsibility is reported in a process known as “Scope 3 emissions” where companies are increasingly accountable for employee trips.

This commuter engagement and reward program highlights brands making a difference when they help reduce congestion.

More than four years in the development and planning effort, Nashville employers can act today with existing technology.  Every citizen in the seven-county area benefits from reducing gridlock and related emissions.