Smart Commute
Smart Commute: Programs & Services
Carpool
Breeze through traffic in a carpool lane or park in a reserved carpool space. Carpool Zone makes finding the right person for your carpool easy.
Enter the Carpool Zone and give it a try.
Park & Pool
Some carpool teams prefer to meet at a common place and carpool together the rest of the way to work.
Find a carpool lot
Carpool Zone helps you find and choose a carpool lot as your starting point, then helps you find matches based on this location.
- Visit the Ontario Ministry of Transportation for a complete list of carpool lots near dozens of highway junctions across Ontario.
- Use the Ministry’s interactive map to find a carpool lot in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area (GTHA).
HOV lanes
High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes — now open on Highway 403 and 404 — can help you get to and from work faster. Visit the Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s HOV Lane page for more information.
Transit
Transit Zone is a special service for Smart Commute employers who offer a Discount Transit Program. Transit Zone lets employers qualify for a matching discount when they invest in public transit for their staff.
Alternative Work Arrangements
Providing work-life balance in an organization means less absenteeism, better productivity and employees who want to work — and keep working — for your business.
Telework – work from home
Telework is a shared benefit:
- Employers save money on parking, office space, equipment and training.
- Employees are more efficient, save money thanks to a shorter commute time and enjoy a better life-work balance.
Telework is a growing trend. Employees who work from home not only attend meetings remotely through conference calls but also log into their computer files and e-mail, ensuring that they’re never “out of the loop.”
Alternative work hours
Alternative work hours affect both morning and evening peak commute periods. For example, changing your work schedule from 8 hours per day, 5 days a week to 10 hours per day, 4 days per week can instantly cut commuting by 20%.
A 10 hour per day/4 day work week doesn’t necessarily mean employees travel any less distance. But this schedule does reduce the number of vehicles on the road during rush-hour, which can help traffic flow and reduce idling time. Plus it provides a 4-day work-week option that many employees dream of.
Both telework and alternative work hours can be part of a workplace trip reduction strategy that benefits employers and employees in many of the same ways.
Emergency ride home
If you're like many people, you've planned to smart commute by taking transit, carpooling, cycling or walking to work on a regular basis. Sometimes you might need to get home quickly and unexpectedly in the middle of the day. That's where Emergency Ride Home can help.
Walking
Walking is the best way to get to work: it’s free, doesn’t pollute our environment and is good for your health.
By walking to your destination you’ll not only see and appreciate landmarks along your route most drivers miss, but also benefit from and enjoy the exercise.
For some walkers, a good walking route has lots of well-maintained sidewalks, lights, benches and diverse services and stores. Other walkers might prefer a quiet, residential route with lots of shade. A route’s “walkability” is measured by the people who regularly use it.
More on walking
Visit:
- WalkScore to learn how ‘walkable’ your neighbourhood is.
- Jane's Walk for walkability toolkits and projects in your community.
- Healthy Ontario to learn more about the health benefits of walking.
Biking
Map your route
1) Visit our interactive Peel Trails Map
2) Click the Advanced Features” tab at the bottom of the page, then select the “Start New Trail” link.
Biking is fun. It’s a great physical activity and good for your mind, heart and the community. It's also the best time you can have on 2 wheels.
Replacing just a few drives a week with cycling reduces gas costs, energizes the start of your day and helps slow air pollution and climate change.
If you already ride your bike then you know the many benefits. But if you're new to the idea, make the transition easier and fun by planning ahead.
Improve your bottom line with Smart Commute
Traffic in the GTHA negatively affects businesses, employees’ quality of life and the environment.
More than 150 employers throughout the GTHA are already Smart Commute workplaces. In a 2009 survey of Smart Commute employers, 93% said they would recommend the services offered by Smart Commute to other companies and 88% rate Smart Commute programs as ‘Extremely important’, ‘Very important’ or ‘Important’ to their organization.
Contact your Smart Commute office in Peel to create a program that saves your business and your employee’s time, money and tonnes of green house gas emissions.
Glenn Gumulka
Executive Director
Smart Commute Pearson Airport Area & Smart Commute Mississauga
Phone: 905-896-5941
Fax: 905-896-5504
E-mail: glenn@smartcommute.ca
Mailing Address:
201 City Centre Drive, Suite 800
Mississauga, Ontario
L5B 2T4
Krista Eichenbaum
Program Manager,
Smart Commute Brampton-Caledon
Phone: 905-598-4949
E-mail: krista@scbc.ca
Mailing Address:
Region of Peel
10 Peel Centre Dr., Suite A, 6th Floor
Brampton, ON L6T 4B9
