LOS ANGELES WORLD AIRPORTS RECEIVES 13TH CONSECUTIVE DIAMOND AWARD IN 11 YEARS FOR EMPLOYEE RIDESHARE PROGRAM

(Los Angeles, California – May 21, 2009)   Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)  received its 13th consecutive Regional Rideshare Diamond Award this weekduring a luncheon ceremony at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The Innovative Rideshare Program Award was presented to LAWA for its Redeployment Transportation Assistance (RTA) Program.

 The Regional Diamond Awards Program showcases the rideshare programs of employers who reduce traffic congestion by providing their employees with a full range of rideshare commuter options, services and programs.  The program’s co-sponsors are the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Association, the Ventura County Transportation Commission and the Orange County Transportation Authority.

LAWA was honored for its efforts to assist redeployed employees with their new commuting efforts.  Redeployment was necessary because air travel decreased nearly 40 percent over the past year and to avoid layoffs, many LAWA employees at LA/Ontario International and LA/Palmdale Regional airports had to be reassigned to other work locations.  LAWA Rideshare distributed memos to each redeployed employee to remind them of the availability of its services and held in-person meetings with them to answer questions, provide customized transit trip plans and vanpool formation assistance.

Through the RTA Program, LAWA gained two new vanpools with 13 new vanpoolers, three new carpoolers and five new transit riders from among the 50 redeployed employees.   This represented an overall commute mode shift of 42 percent from driving alone to ridesharing.

LAWA's multi-faceted Rideshare Program includes 63 subsidized vanpools, 75 carpools, public transit incentives, bicycle facilities, commuter advocacy, marketing activities and special events to recruit and retain program participants.  LAWA distributes LAX FlyAway, Metro, and EZ Regional monthly transit passes onsite and free of charge to LAWA employees who commute to work by bus or rail.

This voluntary program is one of the most comprehensive commuter benefits programs offered by an employer in Southern California.  LAWA's Rideshare Programs save  1,200 vehicle trips per day, seven million commute miles per year, saving more than  500,000 gallons of gasoline per year, and nearly 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.  Participants also save thousands of dollars in car insurance and vehicle depreciation costs and countless hours spent on Southern California's over-burdened freeways.