Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 7.00 - Air Pollution Control › Section 7.16 - U Reduction of Single Occupant Commuter Vehicle Use

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1) Commencing with the effective date of 310
			 CMR 7.16 each affected facility (except as provided below) shall diligently and
			 expeditiously implement and thereafter continuously maintain the following
			 mandatory measures which are designed to achieve a goal of reducing the number
			 of single occupant commuter vehicles customarily commuting daily to each
			 employment facility as of its base date by 25% or as adjusted pursuant to 310
			 CMR 7.16(7):
(a) making available to
			 commuters any pass program offered by the area transit authority, if any
			 commuter to the facility uses the public transit facilities of such Authority
			 as part of his daily commuting trip, including making all administrative
			 arrangements for commuters to purchase the pass and thereby participate in the
			 pass program and encouraging commuters to participate by such means as
			 publicizing the availability of the pass program and the cost advantages
			 thereof.
(b) posting in a
			 conspicuous place or places the schedules, rates and routes of every bus which
			 serves the facility including the services offered by the area transit
			 authority and any privately or publicly operated services which may exist in
			 the immediate vicinity of the employer.
(c) providing incentives for bicycle
			 commuting such as secure locking facilities and removal of restrictive rules
			 against bicycle usage at the facility.
(d) negotiating with authorities in charge of
			 bus lines serving the facility for improved service to the facility, including
			 providing information on the location and density of employees' residences and
			 commuting times to be used for route planning by local transit
			 authorities.
(e) conducting a
			 carpooling program (either alone or in cooperation with neighboring facilities)
			 which:
1. matches on a regularly recurring
			 basis (not less often than once every 12 months) the names, addresses, and
			 suitable contact information of all commuters who commute in single-occupant
			 commuter vehicles or carpool to a facility or group of neighboring facilities
			 and who express interest in carpooling, so that such commuters with similar
			 daily travel patterns are informed and aware of each other for the purpose of
			 forming carpools;
2. continuously
			 publicizes the advantages of carpooling, both in terms of savings of fuel and
			 money and any incentive in effect at the facility;
3. creates incentives for carpool formation
			 by providing persons who carpool with first call on available parking space or
			 spaces which are closest to entrances to the facility; and,
4. provides information for carpooling
			 program to prospective and new employees, and offers new employees the
			 opportunity to participate in such program.
(f) In the case of an employment facility
			 with 1,000 or more employees, implementing a vanpool program which shall
			 include the following elements:
1. The
			 employer shall:
a. cooperate with a non-profit
			 third-party vanpool program and offer their employees the opportunity to
			 participate in such a program; or
b. post in a conspicuous place and regularly
			 notify all employees of an outstanding offer to acquire (by purchase, lease or
			 otherwise), insure and make available to any group of at least ten employees a
			 van for their use as a vanpool. Such offer, a copy of which shall be sent to
			 the Secretary at the time of the employer's first updated report, shall include
			 the procedures by which vanpools are offered and the conditions upon which the
			 offer is contingent, including acceptance by the prospective driver of the
			 responsibility for providing regular service, training backup drivers, and
			 arranging vehicle maintenance, and acceptance by each other member of the
			 prospective group of responsibility for payment of a
pro rata
share of all direct costs (such as rental charge, licensing costs, insurance,
			 tolls, fuel and repair) and indirect costs (such as depreciation and interest
			 on borrowed funds) of the operation and maintenance of the vehicle.
c. notify the Secretary when it is learned
			 that ten or more employees are interested in forming a vanpool.
2. The employer shall analyze and
			 continuously publicize the advantages of vanpooling, including any resulting
			 cost savings, convenience and any incentives in effect at the facility. Such
			 incentives shall include providing persons who vanpool with first call on
			 available parking spaces or spaces which are closest to entrances to the
			 facility.
3. Matching for the
			 vanpool program should be coordinated with the carpool matching program, to
			 facilitate the formation of vanpools.
Upon reaching such a 25% goal, as stated at the beginning of
				310 CMR 7.16, such employer shall thereafter continue such a program in such a
				manner as to aim at maintaining the ratio of single-occupant commuter vehicles
				to total commuters customarily arriving at its facility at or below the ratio
				referred to in 310 CMR 7.16(4)(e). If an employer or educational institution
				reaches and thereafter maintains said goal by implementing less than all the
				measures in 310 CMR 7.16(1), it shall not be subject to a requirement to
				implement the remainder of such measures.
Commencing with the effective date of 301 CMR 7.00 smaller
				employers shall also cooperate with MASSPOOL in its efforts to promote and
				organize mulit-employer ridesharing activities.