The “Try Transit This Spring” campaign continues as one of many efforts to encourage employees not to drive alone to work on the Medical Campus. The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. acquired funds totaling $393,432 to produce initiatives and partnerships that promote sustainable access and smart commuting. Various initiatives are underway to increase use of alternative transportation options by employees in order for the 1 million annual patients and visitors to have sufficient parking options.
After well over 200 2-week free transit passes were given to employees on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus for them to try public transit from April 15th-29th, GO BNMC is now offering subsidized 3-month NFTA Metro Rail & Bus passes. Employees on the Medical Campus that do not already commute using alternative transportation can qualify to receive 3 months worth of passes for a total $60 (less than a third of the total cost of riding the Metro Rail & Bus unlimited for those same 3 months).
The free and subsidized passes are just one of the ways GO BNMC is encouraging employees to take alternative modes of transportation. Incentives are offered to all GO BNMC members who commute to work by walking, biking, carpooling, vanpooling or taking the Metro Bus & Rail on a regular basis. Members can win gift certificates to local retail businesses and restaurants, and transit passes that are raffled off monthly.
For employees that live on the outskirts of the city of Buffalo, the NFTA Express Bus picks up and drops off at two designated Park & Ride locations: Route 69E – Alden, Appletree Business Park, 2875 Union Rd., Cheektowaga, NY 14227 and Route 72E – Orchard Park, ECC South Campus, 4041 Southwestern Blvd., Orchard Park, NY 14127. The express routes arrive on the Medical Campus around 6:40 a.m. and depart the Medical Campus around 3:30 p.m. at the Allen/Medical Campus Station.
To provide a peace of mind for employees that commute using an alternative transportation more than twice a week, there is the Guaranteed Ride Home program. The Guaranteed Ride Home program allows each GO BNMC member that signs up to receive 4 vouchers to use to get home (a free taxi ride for up to $60 excluding tip) from the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. This means that if there isn't a convenient alternative transportation option immediately available, members can simply pull out the wallet-sized voucher and follow the instructions to get home. It's that simple. Each time a voucher is used and turned in to the taxi driver, another will arrive in the mail until all of the 4 vouchers are used.
To learn if you qualify to receive a subsidized Metro Bus & Rail pass or vouchers for the Guaranteed Ride Home program, call 716.566.2316 or e-mail gobnmc@bnmc-old.local. For more about GO BNMC, visit www.gobnmc-old.local.
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