Genentech Commuter Program Hits 100 Million Miles Saved

South San Francisco-based Genentech has hit a milestone for its gRide employee commuting program, and has now saved its employees 100 million driving miles.

Since late 2006, the biodiesel buses have kept employees from putting 3.6 million gallons of gas into the atmosphere through the 4.5 million car trips they would have taken to get to work.

To calculate the miles saved, the company has been tracking each day an employee rides a bus, carpool, bicycle, or uses another alternative commute option, and compare it to the number of miles each employee would have driven based on home location and other commute data, such as what kind of car they drive.

The Genentech bus fleet uses B20, which is a blended fuel of 20% biodiesel.

According to a Genentech spokesperson, the company hopes to have more than 40% of its employees participating in some form of carpool daily by the end of this year.

Genentech incentivizes alternative commute options for it employees with:

• Transit Subsidy -- Genentech pays towards vanpooling or Clipper cards for public transit.
• Rider Incentive – Employees earn money for taking BART, Caltrain, carpooling, vanpooling, riding a bike or a motorcycle, walking, or taking a GenenBus
• Driver Incentive – Employees earn money for being a driver in a carpool or vanpool.
• Preferred Parking - As a carpool or vanpool driver, you can use Preferred Parking stalls conveniently located near several building entrances throughout the South San Francisco campus.

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