Choosing to Ditch the Car Commute: What Helps Office Workers Decide

RMI implemented a parking cash-out program at its Boulder, Colorado office, allowing employees to choose cash instead of a parking spot. In a three-month pilot, 64% of employees opted for alternative commutes, leading to a weekly reduction of 415 kg of carbon emissions and 950 single-occupancy vehicle miles. The program leverages a green-lease structure that decouples parking costs from rent, demonstrating a scalable model for reducing urban commuting emissions.

• RMI implemented a parking cash-out program for employees moving to the Boulder Commons North Building in Boulder, Colorado. This program allows staff to choose between a dedicated parking spot or a cash payment to be used for alternative commutes or as a reward for not driving, ensuring all employees have office access at a cost equal to or lower than providing universal parking.
• The Boulder Commons building utilizes a green-lease structure where parking costs are decoupled from rent. This allows tenants to treat parking as a discrete line item, enabling them to quantify costs, reduce parking expenses without renegotiating rent, and compare parking costs against alternative solutions like bus passes or carshare credits.
• During a three-month pilot for RMI's 100-desk office, 64 percent of employees chose to cash out and use alternative transport such as bikes or buses, while 4 percent opted for electric vehicles. Only 32 percent continued to use personal gas-powered vehicles, many of whom live in areas where alternative commuting is difficult or impossible.
• Among employees who stopped driving, 60 percent transitioned from single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) commutes to biking, walking, or busing. This shift results in the avoidance of 950 SOV miles and a reduction of 415 kg of carbon emissions per week.
• If the parking cash-out program were scaled to all 150,000 employees in the Boulder area, it is estimated that 1.85 million commuting miles would be removed and 807,000 kg of carbon emissions would be avoided every week.

APA

RMI (2017). Choosing to Ditch the Car Commute: What Helps Office Workers Decide. https://rmi.org/resources/choosing-ditch-car-commute-helps-office-workers-decide/

Chicago

RMI. Choosing to Ditch the Car Commute: What Helps Office Workers Decide. 2017. https://rmi.org/resources/choosing-ditch-car-commute-helps-office-workers-decide/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Choosing to Ditch the Car Commute: What Helps Office Workers Decide |date=9 October 2017 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/choosing-ditch-car-commute-helps-office-workers-decide/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2017choosing, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Choosing to Ditch the Car Commute: What Helps Office Workers Decide}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2017}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/choosing-ditch-car-commute-helps-office-workers-decide/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }