Washington, D.C. – Today, Commuter Connections announced the launch of its new mobile-friendly website, www.commuterconnections.org, and mobile apps to give commuters state-of-the-art access to its programs on their smartphones and tablets. Commuter Connections, the leader in promoting transportation benefits and options in the metropolitan Washington region for 40 years, has developed this new web platform to make it faster and more efficient for all commuters in the region to find a ride and search for park and ride lots near their home locations. The mobile apps will give the 30,000 Commuter Connections participants access to their existing accounts.
Recent data from Commuter Connections shows strong interest by area residents in using alternatives to driving alone to work. The 2013 State of the Commute Survey of more than 6,000 people found that one-third of the region’s commuters either take transit (17 percent), telework (8 percent), carpool (7 percent) or bike and walk to work (2 percent).
With 63 percent of American adults using smartphones to access the Internet, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey, Commuter Connections tapped the latest in mobile technology to develop a responsive web platform that meets the needs of the region’s commuters to learn about their commuting options and enroll in Commuter Connections’ time and money-saving commuter programs. The new site offers access to all Commuter Connections’ services, including ‘Pool Rewards and the Guaranteed Ride Home program. The new Commuter Connections mobile apps are now available for download at Google Play and Apple iTunes store and will soon be available for BlackBerry.
This effort is just the most recent in Commuter Connections’ 40-year history of delivering quality commuter services using the leading technology of the time. In the 1970s, information from rideshare applications received by mail were keypunched on to IBM punch cards, ridematches computed, and results mailed back to applicants. By the 1980s, dial-up modems connecting local ridesharing agencies with COG’s mainframe computer sped the process.
Commuter Connections began using ArcView Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and online tools and maps in the 1990s to make it quicker and easier to deliver high quality commuter services. By the early 2000s, area commuters were able to customize their preferences, manage profiles, track their trips and check their carbon footprint using a web-based transportation demand management module. Today, the introduction of Commuter Connections responsive platform and mobile apps deliver dynamic ridesharing information directly to smartphones and tablets, continuing Commuter Connections’ 40 year tradition of making the latest technology available to improve the commute in the DC region.
“Commuter Connections continues to find new ways to improve mobility in the region. By using cutting-edge technologies, the mobile-friendly website and apps connect commuters to easier, less expensive ways to travel quickly, safely, and reliably using “smart” devices,” said Nicholas Ramfos, Director of Commuter Connections. “We’re addressing commuter needs for ride-matching, carpools, park-and-ride locations and other services in real time, using the technology more commuters prefer—and it’s free!”
Commuter Connections continues to make it easier to save commuters time and money, and to make a positive impact the region’s economy and environment with programs that reduce the drive- alone commute. To learn more about Commuter Connections’ programs, go to www.commuterconnections.org.