Best Practices

The commuting survey should collect commuting data from regular building occupants for a consecutive five-day period. Implementing the survey on a Friday to capture behaviors for that week is a common approach. A sample survey that may be customized for your project building is available in the Documentation Toolkit.

Formal commute-reduction programs typically require you to submit data about your project building on a regular basis (usually every two years). The program analyzes your level of alternative commuting and provides you with a calculated performance level.

It is important to be creative and responsive to the unique, specific needs of your occupants when considering new incentive programs to improve alternative commuting. Incentive suggestions can be found online at SmartCommute.org or in the LEED Reference Guide. (See Resources.) 

Don’t allow your efforts to document the current levels of alternative commuting at your project building overshadow the importance of developing incentives and helping people use alternative transportation. Incentives can take many forms—including, but not limited to, the following:

Alternative commuting transportation options include the following:

• telecommuting;
• compressed workweek;
• mass transit;
• walking;
• bicycling;
• carpool;
• vanpool;
• and low-emitting, fuel-efficient or alternative-fuel vehicles.

South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) is the air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties—the smoggiest region of the U.S.

Credit compliance is measured using “reduction in conventional commuting trips,” or RCCT. RCCT measures how much a project building reduces the number of conventional commuting trips from a LEED baseline. The baseline is calculated by assuming that each regular building occupant drives alone to and from the project building twice a day, five days a week, in a conventional vehicle. 

Be prepared to demonstrate that onsite building staff who are responsible for daily water tower maintenance receive appropriate training, as this is often overlooked.

Implement a preventive maintenance plan to inspect and maintain cooling tower controls. An effective plan will address the water management plan of the project building in question. Do not submit a water management plan that addresses another building, or that is too general and does not address the specifics of the project building.