STAR Platform. Objective: Provide commuters with the tools, programs, and incentives that not only encourage their shift to non-drive alone modes, but also provide ongoing support and incentives for them to continue using preferred commute mode(s).
STAR Platform. The agency will continue with the deployment and promotion of the STAR Platform as the online tool that Xxxxxxx.xxx uses to promote, track and incentivize alternative commuting behavior. The tool, provided by software vendor Ride Amigos, was branded as the STAR Platform in FY 2016-2017 and considerable progress was made in recruiting commuters and employers to use the platform’s many tools. The Employer Outreach and Commuter Programs teams focused on this task during FY 2016- 2017 and will continue to have it as a major initiative in FY 2017-2018. The Challenge module of the STAR platform was used in the Commuter Challenges of 2016 and 2017. Approximately 1,500 commuters registered and logged their commute trips during the 2-month 2017 campaign. Final statistics and survey results are still pending; however, early indications are that the level of engagement was much higher using the STAR platform than in prior years when commuters could participate in a much more passive manner. More than 20 employer “networks” were activated to provide employer-specific results during the Challenge. Employer support and participation is the key to the long-term success of the platform. The Employer Outreach team will continue to recruit employers to create networks and the Commuter Programs team will provide the support and training. Networks allow the parent organization (Xxxxxxx.xxx) to create public and private networks that are managed by “network administrators” associated with companies, cities, or organizations. Each network has almost the set of full privileges available to the parent organization, but can limit access to their network to their own employees, members, etc. This allows employers to conduct their own campaigns, challenges, and rewards programs while generating detailed information about their employees’ commuting patterns and behaviors. Ride Amigos has recently released a smart phone app to make the trip logging more automated. Commuters will be given the opportunity to use the app to log trips in FY 2017-2018 which should result in greater participation since most commuters prefer app-based logging to manually logging using a desktop module. Xxxxxxx.xxx will continue to develop and deploy training tools to expedite the adoption of the platform by organizations throughout the county. More analysis is necessary to determine if anything more than basic training and basic reporting, should be provided on a fee-for-service basis.
STAR Platform. The agency will continue with the deployment and promotion of the STAR Platform as the primary online tool that Xxxxxxx.xxx uses to promote, track and incentivize alternative commuting behavior. The tool, provided by software vendor Ride Amigos, was branded as the STAR Platform in FY 2016-2017 and considerable progress has been made in recruiting commuters and employers to use the platform’s many tools. The Employer Programs and Commuter Programs teams focused on this initiative over the past two years and will continue to have it as their primary initiative in FY 2018-2019. The STAR Platform has given the agency a tool that generates measurable impacts in real- time. Sharing these impacts with commuters, employers and partners helps to reinforce the positive behavior that we are seeking. The Challenge module of the STAR platform was used in the past three Commuter Challenges. Approximately 1,900 commuters registered and logged their commute trips during the 2-month 2018 campaign. Final statistics and survey results are still pending; however, early indications are that by using the STAR Platform, we achieved more meaningful engagement with the participants than in prior years when commuters participated in a more passive manner. Employer support and participation is the key to the long-term success of the platform. The Employer Programs team will continue to recruit employers to create “networks” (employer- specific URL’s and reporting). This feature allows employers to conduct their own campaigns, challenges, and rewards programs while generating detailed information about their employees’ commuting patterns and behaviors. Ride Amigos has improved their smart phone app that makes trip logging more automated. Additionally, the platform now allows automatic (verified) carpool and bicycling trips to be logged when users connect their Scoop and/or Strava accounts.
STAR Platform. Objective: Provide commuters with the tools, programs, and incentives that not only encourage their shift to non‐drive alone modes, but also provide ongoing support and incentives for them to continue using preferred commute mode(s). • FY 2023‐2024 Action Items: o Promote the STAR platform as the primary online tool for commuters to track their commute trips and earn incentives. The tool, provided by software vendor RideAmigos, was branded as the STAR platform when it was first deployed in 2016. The tool continues to evolve and improve. o Use the STAR platform’s integrated GHG calculator to measure the impacts of commuters who track trips using the tool. Sharing these impacts with commuters, employers, partners, and funders helps to reinforce the positive behavior that we are seeking from commuters. Data is tracked at the individual level but is presented as anonymized and aggregated data. o Redesign STAR home page to provide a refresh of the site and highlight more of the features that users can expect to see if they proceed. o The agency brought back the annual Commuter Challenge in 2023. Over 1,000 commuters participated in the challenge by logging their non‐drive alone commutes. Weekly and grand prizes were awarded throughout the challenge. While we were excited to bring back this program, we were disappointed in the number of active participants. We will dive into the program results and look for ways to improve participation in FY24. o One lesson that will be applied to the 2024 Commuter Challenge will be to reduce the barriers to participation by giving commuters an uncomplicated way to get started in the challenge and then encourage them to increase their level of participation to qualify for the higher‐value prizes. o Continue offering quarterly Commuter Promotions. Each quarter a different mode or collection of modes is selected to be the focus of the promotion. Using the STAR platform for promotions and challenges has resulted in more meaningful engagement with the participants than in prior years when commuters participated passively in “pledge” programs.
