AQMD Makes Ride-Share Rule More Flexible

The Southland’s landmark ride-share rule was overhauled Friday, providing 3,400 employers more flexibility in how they clean up smog-causing exhaust from the cars their employees drive to work.

The changes in the air quality board’s ride-share mandate--the region’s most unpopular and far-reaching anti-smog measure--offer some relief to businesses throughout the four counties that complained about the complexity and expense of trying to persuade their workers to stop driving to work alone.

Under the original rule, all workplaces with 100 or more employees had been forced since the late 1980s to encourage ride-sharing by providing incentives, such as mass transit rebates, van pools and free parking for car-poolers. The goal of the rule, which costs businesses about $130 million per year, was to achieve an average of 1 1/2 people per car during rush hours. Although participating employers made some progress, that figure has not been reached.

In reforming its pioneering rule, the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s board recognized the challenge that Southland employers face in altering the entrenched commuting habits of their employees, and suggested that it might be easier to target the cars instead.

Under the new version, approved Friday, employers beginning July 1 have the option of buying and scrapping their workers’ high-polluting cars, or installing experimental emission-sensing devices in parking areas and then paying to repair cars with excess exhaust.

They can also opt to stay with the current ride-sharing incentive system. In addition, those with fewer than 200 employees are let off the hook if they annually contribute $110 per employee to an AQMD fund for developing low-emission transportation equipment, such as electric shuttles and school buses.

Only time will tell how many of the 3,400 employers at 4,650 work sites in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties covered by the rule will choose to cut ride-share incentives to their 1.18 million workers and start scrapping or repairing their cars instead.

Under the old program, providing incentives cost the companies an average of $110 per employee, while buying and scrapping old cars would cost $700 to $800 per vehicle. The car-scrapping program is expected to be the most popular option for businesses, since--depending on the number of cars they have to buy to meet their emissions targets--it would cost one-half to two-thirds less for equivalent reductions in pollution.

The cost of testing and repairing cars under the emission-sensing option has not been projected.

“We believe many employers will save in excess of 50% if they choose from these alternatives,” said Barry Wallerstein, AQMD deputy executive officer.

Friday’s 9-1 vote by the AQMD board culminated a 15-month process that began when the board created a task force composed of business and community leaders to find ways to revamp the widely despised ride-share program.

Business leaders largely applauded the changes, and there was little controversy or debate Friday.

Tab Harrison, manager of environmental health and safety for Food 4 Less, said that the La Habra-based supermarket chain has not thoroughly reviewed the changes, but that “change is desperately needed.”

Harrison said Food 4 Less has been pouring money into ride-share programs for the past six years, but the company has made little headway trying to meet AQMD goals.

The company, which employs 1,400 at its La Habra distribution center, offers car-pooling employees one day off with pay after 75 days of ride-sharing, monthly drawings for cash and gift certificates, and a monthly newsletter to encourage ride-sharing, Harrison said. “It seems we’re pouring a lot of money into this program that just isn’t working very well,” he said. “We appreciate what they’re trying to do, but the ride-share program per se just isn’t the answer.”

Harrison said the company does support efforts to reduce auto emissions and that the program appears to be an improvement over the old.

“If that promises to work better, and if the emissions we can save are quantifiable, then we are very interested,” Harrison said. “I think that ride-sharing is a great idea in theory . . . but the other makes more sense.”

Officials with McDonnell Douglas, which has a 5,000 employees in Huntington Beach, said current AQMD ride-share regulations have been costly, and other ride-share proposals will certainly be investigated.

“It has been effective, but there has been a price for that,” said Rita Linsey, employee transportation coordinator. “Changing people’s behavior to get them to car-pool, it takes time.”

But not all Orange County companies are looking for change.

Allergan Inc., which has 1,400 employees in Irvine, has had considerable success with its air-quality programs, including one which allows employees to work nine-hour days and take every other Friday off, spokesman Michael Timmerman said.

“What (company officials) are doing now, they’re very happy with and they feel it’s going well,” Timmerman said. “That’s something they feel very strongly about. It’s an ingrained part of the corporate culture at this point.”

The AQMD’s innovative 1987 rule led Congress in 1990 to mandate similar rules for other smoggy cities, including New York and Chicago, and the provision has stirred up vehement opposition in the other states.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials warned the AQMD board in October that its proposal to change the rule would be unacceptable. They said that the new options are viable ways to try to clean the air, but that they cannot substitute for a program aimed at reducing vehicles on the roads as required under the Clean Air Act.

However, after the November election brought a more conservative Congress, EPA Administrator Carol Browner said her agency will not take enforcement action against states that fail to comply as long as they make “a good-faith effort.” The EPA faces extreme pressure to loosen the ride-share mandate or see Congress reopen and overhaul the entire Clean Air Act.

Everyone involved acknowledges that the original AQMD rule imposed cumbersome demands on businesses, which said they were forced to spend too much time and money on record-keeping and ineffective incentives.

AQMD board member Stephen Albright, one of the rule’s most vocal critics, called it a “dismal failure in social engineering.” Albright, whose term on the board ended Friday because Gov. Pete Wilson did not reappoint him, cast the single vote against the changes, saying the ride-share rule should be completely eliminated. Many of the board members agreed but said their hands were tied by the congressional mandate.

Despite the original rule’s troublesome aspects, most AQMD officials say it has been successful in persuading some solo commuters to ride-share. About 122,500 daily round trips--and 48 daily tons of pollution--were eliminated during rush hours.

When the rule was adopted in 1987, average ridership was 1.13 per car for the covered employees, according to AQMD data. In 1994, it grew to 1.28. The rule’s goal of 1.5 people per car has been achieved by about 650 companies so far.

While the new options are supposed to achieve pollution reductions equivalent to those under the old requirements, environmentalists expressed some concern over whether that promise will be kept.

“We’re completely supportive of ride-share programs, but we understand some of the concerns about implementing them,” said Linda Waade, executive director of the Coalition for Clean Air. “We do support flexible alternatives as long as they have the same results. I hope these changes result in that.”

A major concern is that the remote sensing devices that employers can install in parking lots to measure cars’ exhaust recently have been shown to be largely inaccurate. In a major state pilot program in Sacramento, only 10% of the vehicles with excess emissions were identified. The equipment also erred by frequently reporting that cars failed the test when in fact their emissions were fine. The board, however, did not discuss that potential problem.

Changes were also made to streamline the mass of paperwork for the employers. However, those that choose the new options must go through a complex system of calculating how many cars to scrap or repair, which to some business representatives seems as complicated as the old system.

Times correspondent Steve Scheibal contributed to this report.