Trip Reduction

Why was the program created?

In April 1985 the Center for Law and Public Interest filed suit against Maricopa County and the State of Arizona for failure to meet the Ambient Air Quality Standards for carbon monoxide. The federal court ordered the State of Arizona to write a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to comply with the standards. In response, the Arizona Legislature passed the 1988 Air Quality Bill (ARS 49-581 et seq.) which mandated a Trip Reduction Program (TRP) for employers and schools in Maricopa County. The original county ordinance affected employers and schools with 100 or more employees and/or driving-age students. There have since been two ordinance revisions which have reduced the required number of employees and/or students from 100 down to 50.

The Maricopa County Division of Trip Reduction administers this statute and our responsibilities include the following:

Distributing and processing TRP surveys Providing survey analyses Reviewing TRP plans Submitting TRP plans to the Task Force Monitoring program compliance

What are the goals of the program?

Employers and schools are asked to reduce single occupant vehicle trips and/or miles traveled to the work site by 10 percent a year for a total of five years, and then 5 percent for three additional years, or until a 60 percent rate of SOV travel is reached.

Why does the program continue? How bad is our air? Maricopa County faces new challenges reaching attainment with the new ozone standard lowered by the EPA in March 2008. So far in 2008, the region recorded 28 days where at least one of our monitors exceeded the new standard for ozone pollution. We would not have recorded any exceedances under the old standard. Currently, Maricopa County exceeds the EPA national ambient air quality standards for PM-10, which is particulate matter of 10 microns or less in size and commonly known as dust.

These pollutants continue to be a threat to our health; we have one of the highest rates of chronic obtrusive lung disease in the nation. Motor vehicles and other gasoline-powered machinery, such as lawn mowers, generators and tractors, are the primary cause of these pollutants.

The Trip Reduction Program (TRP) has proven to be effective helping to reduce traffic congestion and in reducing emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter and the precursors to ozone. Participants of the TRP save a calculated 12,299 tons of pollution annually by using some alternate mode to the workplace or to school.

The TRP provides assistance to employers and schools with driving age students in developing and implementing travel reduction plans, disseminating information on air quality, promoting alternate modes and increasing the effectiveness of selected travel reduction measures.
Each time we drive our automobiles, they discharge pollutants into the air. In the urbanized area of Maricopa County, commuters drive over 70 million miles each weekday. By 2015, we are expected to drive over 100 million miles per day. (Source: MAG-TPO) All this driving causes tons of carbon monoxide to be released into the air.

Each day approximately 70 percent of all carbon monoxide produced is created by passenger cars, pick-up trucks and motorcycles. Combined they release over 770 tons of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere each day and 3,000 tons of particulates. (Source: ADEQ)

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