News Release

Release date: September 21, 2000

National award for commuter information effort during WTO conference

King County's commuter information effort during the World Trade Organization conference last November has won a first-place award from the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT). The award was announced last night at ACT's international conference Sept. 19 in Orlando, Fla.

The WTO project provided commute alternatives and late-breaking transportation information for downtown employers and the thousands of downtown Seattle workers affected by disruptions during the November 1999 conference.

Accepting the Outstanding Service Award for 2000 on behalf of King County Commute Trip Reduction Services Group was Jesse Strauss, an employer transportation representative, who conceived the employer outreach program and spearheaded its implementation.

In the weeks leading up to the conference, Metro met with many employers to help plan commute alternatives for their employees. Strauss invited security representatives of the Seattle Transportation Department to speak to the downtown employee and building transportation coordinators for Seattle's largest buildings about disruptions they might expect during the conference. Strauss and others distributed more than 26,000 free-ride bus tickets, a 160 percent increase over projections, to downtown Seattle workers who normally drive alone to work. She also directed downtown employees to transit alerts through their downtown employee and building transportation coordinators.

Backing up Strauss' outreach was the technology of GOVLINK WTO Traffic and Transit Alerts. During the conference, more than 10,000 Seattle area residents saved time and avoided civil disturbances through subscriptions to a special e-mail and pager service called GOVLINK WTO Traffic Alert. Another 10,000 bus riders received e-mail and pager updates through King County Transit Alerts. In addition, information was posted on Metro's Web site and the GOVLINK Web site.

Because of weeks of planning and cooperation, and with minimal new cost, the transportation departments of Seattle, King County and Washington could tell subscribers immediately about emergency changes in street and bus conditions. Subscribers then passed this information on to co-workers. Planned changes to bus service were updated daily, and late breaking news resulted in changes almost hourly.

Staff remained on-site nearly 24 hours a day during the entire conference to make sure customers and drive-alone commuters had the best information possible.

Subscribers overwhelmingly expressed appreciation for the timely updates on closures and reroutes. Eight hundred subscribers replied to follow-up survey, giving GOVLINK WTO Traffic and Transit Alerts a 90 percent satisfaction rate.

Many downtown Seattle workers saw this project as a major success during a time of chaos. Here are some sample commendations:

• I realize how much of a task these Transit Alerts can be for you folks and I want to thank you for these updates. They are informative and I am routing them to my staff.
• Keep up the great work!
• In light of recent debates regarding different topics, please pass on the following "kudos" to Metro Bus Administration. During last week's WTO activities, it was very, VERY helpful and beneficial to my fellow associates and I to have the WTO/GovLink/ Metro Traffic Alert delivered to my pager and e-mail. In today's technologically advanced environment, what a great way to communicate to such great masses of people and deliver the same precise message. In the event activities like this occur in the future, I hope this service is available. Great job, Metro!

The GOVLINK WTO Traffic and Transit Alerts program was a joint effort of King County and the state and Seattle departments of transportation.

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