Commute Smart Raleigh

Commute Smart Raleigh offers easy solutions to alleviate traffic congestion and employee stress, by moving more people in fewer vehicles. Commute Smart Consultants provide advice and assistance on how to increase the use of transportation options such as walking, biking, transit, carpooling, vanpooling, teleworking, creative work schedules, and parking cash-out.

Implementing a Commute Smart Program can:

Increase employee satisfaction
Reduce the demand for parking
Reduce tardiness and absenteeism
Reduce employee stress
Enhance recruitment and retention
Enhance your public image

Commute Smart Consultants

Anne Galamb and Jayna Victor are the City of Raleigh's dedicated Commute Smart Consultants. They will assist you and your employees with new commute options.

For State Government and businesses inside and just outside the beltline — email Anne Galamb or call 919-996-4139.

For Central Business District — email Jayna Victor or call 919-996-4036.

Walk & Bike

Biking and walking have so many benefits for our physical and mental health. It helps combat stress and anxiety, releases endorphins and strengthens our immune systems. Walking and bicycling to work aren't just about being fit; it's also reducing traffic and wear and tear on the roadways and your vehicle. It's the non-pollute commute!

Walk

Walking is an option for employees who live within a mile or two of their workplace. It is important to promote safety and education for those who choose to walk. If possible, provide your employees with showers and lockers.

Raleigh holds a month-long festival to celebrate walking in October of each year. Visit Walk Raleigh to learn more.

Bike

Bicycling is an easy option for employees who live within five miles of their workplace though many bike longer distances to work. All buses in the Triangle have bicycle racks on the front so a bike commute can be combined with transit. Visit the City's guide to putting bikes on buses here.

In addition to having lockers and showers, it is important to have bicycle infrastructure and safe routes between your home and work and secure bike parking or storage areas at your workplace.

Plan your bike commute using the City of Raleigh's Bike Map. Try out your bike commute on a day you don't work in order to gain confidence before going "live".

In Raleigh, each May is Bike Month which celebrates all bike riders. See more information at BikeRaleigh.

Bikeshare and Scooters

Citrix Cycle is Raleigh’s docked bikeshare. The bikeshare program offers e-assist and regular bicycles at 30 plus locations around Raleigh. You do not have to start and end your trip at the same station. To see locations and get more information visit CitrixCycle.com. Raleigh also has scooters to share for a fee. Both bikeshare and scooter share are quick and convenient to unlock and use.

Bus & Train

Bus

Riding the bus is the easiest way to get to work when:

A bus route is within three blocks (1/4 mile) of work and near home;
There is easy access to a Park & Ride lot;
Bus schedules meet their work schedules;
There's safe access between transit stops and your site.

For information on how to ride the bus, check out GoRaleigh's Ride Guide. You can also find information about bus fares here.

GoPass

The GoPass is offered in two options: GoRaleigh only and Regional which covers GoRaleigh, GoDurham, GoCary, and GoTriangle.

The GoPass requires a contractual agreement with an organization that allows employees/members/tenants of participating organizations to ride buses for free. The participating organization pays a discounted fare for those who use their organizational GoPass. Contact your Commute Smart Consultant if you are interested in getting a GoPass for your organization.

GoPass Brochure

Park & Ride

There are numerous Park & Ride locations in and around the Triangle. Some lots are shared facilities with the businesses that own or lease the property. We encourage you to patronize their businesses, so they continue to see the benefit of providing the Park & Ride. There are both Regional or GoRaleigh Park & Ride locations.

Train

Raleigh's train station, Raleigh Union Station, is downtown. There is Amtrak service from the station four times daily from Raleigh to Durham, Greensboro, Cary and Charlotte. You can also go to Washington, D.C. or other destinations further away. For more information visit Raleigh Union Station Amtrak.

Bikes may come aboard the train. Check here for details.

Once you reach your train station at the end of your trip, you can use a free bus pass, obtained from the conductor, to get to your final destination.

Car- & Vanpool

To view car- and vanpooling options for your route, visit Share the Ride NC .

Carpooling

A carpool is two or more people commuting. Carpooling is an excellent alternative to driving alone and is a great way for employees to share expenses. As an employer, this is the easiest program to implement and make available to all employees. Preferential parking may be offered as an incentive.

Vanpooling

A vanpool is made up of five or more commuters who live and work near each other and share approximately the same work hours. GoTriangle provides the van, pays for gas, arranges, oversees and pays for all maintenance. Riders pay a monthly fee to participate. Ask your employer about vanpool subsidies.

Emergency Ride Home & GoPerks

Emergency Ride Home and GoPerks are housed on the Share the Ride NC statewide website and app. Customized work site branded portals are available free of charge for employers.

Emergency Ride Home (ERH) gets you home if an emergency ever strikes. This service is available to those who commuted to work by a method other than driving alone. Use it if:

You or an immediate family member gets sick or has a crisis
Your carpool driver must leave unexpectedly early or stay late
You must work unscheduled overtime

Employers can register their organization at no cost so that all employees get six free emergency rides home per year. Each employee must register on SharetheRideNC in order to use ERH.

Share the Ride NC houses GoPerks where employees can log their commute on the commute calendar and enter drawings for a chance to win gift cards for local restaurants and businesses in the Triangle.

Teleworking

Teleworking allows employees to work from a location other than their usual place of business — for example their home, a satellite office or a co-working space. Businesses interested in setting up a telework program should visit nctelework.org. No commute is the best commute.

Creative Work Schedules

Compressed Work Week

A compressed work schedule allows an employee to work a traditional 40-hour week in less than the traditional number of workdays. By allowing employees to adjust their work schedules, companies can use this as a recruiting benefit and employees can eliminate commute trips. An example of a compressed work week could be a 4/10 work week — Forty hours are worked in four 10-hour days, reducing the employee’s commute trips by 20 percent. Read more about Compressed Work Week benefits here.

Flextime

Allowing your employees a more flexible schedule makes it easier for them to use transportation options to driving alone. Under a flextime arrangement, employees are given some degree of choice for their own starting and ending times.

Parking Cash Out

Parking Cash Out programs are also an effective means to encourage employees not to drive to work alone. Under this program, an employer gives employees a choice to keep a parking space at work or accept a cash payment and give up the parking space.

Parking cash out info

Parking cash out examples

Best Workplace for Commuters

Contact your Commute Smart Consultant to find out how you can become a nationally recognized Best Workplace for Commuters employer. This national award recognizes organizations providing outstanding commuter benefits.

Mode Makers is a state-wide recognition program that offers a platform to celebrate corporate leadership in realizing mode shift.

Request a Commute Smart Plan

To receive a personalized plan on all your commuting options, please fill out this form and send to Commute@raleighnc.gov.

Your Commute Smart Consultant will review and provide you with individualized assistance to help you save money and find a sustainable way of commuting to and from work.

Lighten Up, Raleigh

October is the last month of Daylight Savings, which means the days are getting shorter! “Lighten Up, Raleigh” is a safety campaign that reminds citizens to move safely in the evenings throughout the Fall and Winter months. It encourages residents to prioritize visibility while out walking, biking, e-scootering, or waiting for public transportation.