Trip Tracker Program sees amazing results during 2015-16 school year

Participants from five St. Vrain Valley school took 92,442 green trips

Boulder County, Colo. - Boulder County Transportation’s Trip Tracker Program, which encourages school communities to reduce motor vehicle traffic around schools, saw some incredible numbers from program participants during the 2015/16 school year.

The program was offered at five St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) elementary schools (expanded to seven for the 2016/17 school year) including Black Rock, Burlington, Central, Fall River, and Niwot.

Over the course of the school year, the Trip Tracker program saw an 80 percent increase in participation (the number of trip reports made) from 2014/15 by those who chose to get to school using alternative modes of transportation. These modes might be things like carpooling, busing, biking, and walking, which are referred by the program to as “green trips.” The 981 registered participants (up 114 percent from 2014/15) made more than 92,400 green trips of which 71 percent were made using “active modes,” which are human powered options like biking, walking, scooting, or skating. Participants were asked to report how they got to and from school and how far the trip was, which revealed that approximately 87.4 million steps were taken. That’s an average of 24,000 steps per participant.

All of the participants efforts equated to substantial reductions in cars on the road:

• 18,688 total car trips reduced
• 28,752 car miles reduced
• 26,337 pounds of CO2 emissions reduced from the air

These results emphasize how a reduction in car trips reduces unsafe congestion around schools, increases the health of participants and often additional family members as well, and reduces air pollutants, which all benefit the entire community.

To encourage green trips, each month participants earn “Tracker Bucks” for their efforts. Four green trips to or from school earns a participant one Tracker Buck. A Tracker Buck is equal to $1 that can be redeemed at numerous participating Trip Tracker businesses all around Boulder County. During 2015/16 an average of $8 per participant per month were earned. Parent volunteers at each school coordinated reward distributions and on-going program promotion.

Trip Tracker businesses help make the program successful. SVVSD’s Trip Tracker business saw more than $20,000 worth of Tracker Buck being spent locally throughout 2015/16. The Trip Tracker philosophy on participant rewards is instead of pre-prescribing a reward to all participants, the program lets them choose rewards meaningful to them by spending their Tracker Bucks at locally-owned participating businesses. This means the benefits earned in the community remain in the community, a true community based program. SVVSD’s Trip Tracker program has seen its list of locally owned participating businesses grow from four to more than 20, with new locations regularly coming on board. Interested locally-owned businesses should contact the Trip Tracker Program for more information.

The Trip Tracker Program was started several years ago by the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD). When Boulder County Transportation’s Multimodal Division learned of the results they were achieving it was an easy decision to help expand the program into SVVSD. Boulder County has been in partnership ever since with SVVSD’s Wellness Department to support program implementation. The program is funded through state and federal grants with a county match.

“The Trip Tracker program reduces congestion around schools, improves student health, and reduces pollution. We thought it would also help address congestion and safety concerns in the Longmont area schools, and we’re really happy that St. Vrain Valley Schools are so excited about the program,” said Boulder County Transportation Director George Gerstle. “My hope is that we can help continue to find funds that will allow the program to grow so that students throughout the county have the same opportunity to reduce congestion around schools and get out of cars and get some exercise on their way to and from school. I believe this program helps children see that it is possible to use alternative modes of travel to go about their daily lives.”

More information on the county’s Trip Tracker Program is available at www.BoCoTripTracker.com.

For more information, contact Andrew Barth, Boulder County Transportation Department, at abarth@bouldercounty.org or 303-441-1032.