PORTSMOUTH – During the recent Pease B2B Commuter Challenge organized by commuteSMARTseacoast, 228 employees from 10 tradeport companies changed how they commute to work.
Instead of driving alone, they carpooled, rode the bus, bicycled or worked from home. Challenge participants competed for awards, prizes and the honor of having the smartest, greenest commuting workforce.
Participating employers included Great Bay Community College, John Hancock, International Association of Privacy Professionals, IPSUMM, LTC Partners, LLC, Loftware Inc., Lonza, N.H. Department of Environmental Services, Newmarket an Amadeus Company and the Pease Development Authority.
The 228 participants logged 1,154 sustainable trips totaling 35,000 miles during the two week challenge held Sept. 14-25. More than 60 new carpools were formed and 75 percent of participants had not used a sustainable mode or teleworked before the challenge.
In the “Most Sustainable Trips” category, the winners were IPSUMM and Loftware (tying for first place in small employer category), Newmarket an Amadeus Company (medium sized category), and LTC Partners (large sized category).
“The challenge really drew out a collaborative effort among all of us at IPSUMM by focusing on one objective,” said Patti Boumil, IPSUMM’s team co-captain and human resources coordinator.
Led by team captains Lars Anderson, Glen Sansoucie and Lauren Grant, Loftware won the “Most Social Media Engagement” and “Most Team Spirit” awards for the second year in a row. Bruce Alexander rallied Team Newmarket to earn the “Most Improved Team” award. Winners of the “Most New Smart Commuters” award were IPSUMM (first place), Lonza (second place), and the N.H. Department of Environmental Services (third place).
“We were thrilled to have such an enthusiastic response again from Pease commuters with a 42 percent increase in participants from last year,” said Anne Rugg, Manager of commuteSMARTseacoast. “Judging from the social media posts, folks were having a lot of fun commuting smart.”
Two International Group was the sole sponsor of the event. Prize donors included Redhook, Block 6 Restaurant at 3S Artspace, The Music Hall and Papa Wheelies.
CommuteSMARTseacoast is a Transportation Management Association that promotes carpooling, transit, bicycling, walking and teleworking. It is funded by the Federal Department of Transportation and N.H. Turnpike Authority and sponsored by COAST. For more information, visit www.commuteSMARTseacoast.org or call Rugg at (603) 743-5777, ext. 109.