Who rode it best? Transit group wins first Ride for the Region

Eight regional employers – universities, non-profits, and private companies – competed this spring to see who could get the largest share of their employees riding transit. As the organizers of this first-of-its-kind competition in the Washington metropolitan area, which we dubbed Ride for the Region, we were as excited as the competitors to see who would win.

In true “the name is on the box” fashion, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) came out on top.

“Every ride on public transit takes cars off the road, keeps our cities healthier and creates opportunities for growth in the industry,” said Paul P. Skoutelas, APTA President and CEO. “The weekly celebrations and friendly competition among APTA colleagues added an element of fun to our daily transit commutes. We look forward to taking part in future challenges to promote public transit as a sustainable, safe and accessible mode of transportation in our region.”

American University, Kimley-Horn, Gannett Fleming, George Mason University, George Washington University, RMI, and Sierra Club all showed up for transit by taking part in the competition too. Individual competitors took part by logging their trips on the incenTrip app starting on the first of April, with the totals for each participating organization counted at the end of each week, yielding a March-Madness-style tournament.

The challenge wasn’t just about seeing who could encourage or entice their staff onto transit. All of the participants had an existing commitment to shifting trips from cars to public transportation, whether for environmental reasons, equity of opportunity, or other reasons. Whether they came first or eighth during these few fun weeks, they all place a value on transit that we’d like to see employers adopt region-wide.

Why “Ride for the Region”?

Ride for the Region stemmed from a transportation summit at WMATA headquarters toward the end of 2023, which I coordinated as founder and CEO of the Advanced Energy Group. Our goal was to come up with an event or action that could happen in a short space of time, but could help prompt wider action on reducing transportation emissions.

At its core, we as the task force wanted the competition to highlight the key role that employers of all stripes play in a strong transit system, and the value of making it an institutional goal–not just an individual one–to shift trips from single-occupancy vehicles to transit. We decided to build on the excitement of “March Madness” by creating a bracket-based competition, and employers answered the call.

“Public transit is one of the most sustainable ways to travel, and getting more people to ride Metro is key to meeting our regional mobility and climate goals,” said Brian Dwyer, WMATA Chief Operations Officer. “Metro is providing some of the highest levels of rail and bus service ever, and with that, we have seen ridership increase. When Metro’s ridership grows, so does our positive environmental impact.”

Data crunchers from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Goverment’s Commuter Connections team calculated that participants in Ride for the Region logged more than 300 trips on regional bus and rail services, which prevented approximately 843 kg of carbon dioxide being released had those trips taken in cars instead–the equivalent of the carbon sequestered by about an acre of forests in one year.

While the competition excited folks’ interest, the vital importance of shifting trips away from single-occupancy cars doesn’t end here.

In future years, we’re hoping to see a broader regional challenge, which builds on existing programs in individual jurisdictions like GoDCGo, and takes them to a regional level. But the possibilities don’t end there. With the 2024 competition a wrap, this initiative has opened a door for national impact every March Madness season, in every metropolitan area with a transit system, since most would benefit from increased ridership. That could be a “net” gain (yes, we’re stretching that basketball metaphor a little here) for both sustainability and the economy.

Disclosure: Greater Greater Washington participated on a voluntary basis in the task force that created this challenge.