DEQ's ECO Rule

The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) implemented the Employee Commute Options (ECO) Rule in 1996. The rule asks Portland metro-area employers to reduce employee auto trips by 10 percent over three years by implementing programs that encourage employees to use alternatives to driving alone. DEQ's goal is to improve air quality in the region. (Over 50 percent of air pollution is caused by vehicle emissions.)

• The ECO rule and your company
• How to comply
• Implementing a trip reduction plan

The ECO Rule and your company

The ECO Rule affects only employers with more than 50 people at any single worksite located within the Portland Air Quality Maintenance Area, which encompasses most of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. For more information, see the Oregon DEQ website.

How to comply

First, you must conduct a baseline survey to document how employees currently commute to work. You'll administer a follow-up survey each year to measure progress towards compliance. DEQ requires a 75% response rate on these surveys.

Implementing a trip reduction plan

Using the baseline survey results, you'll determine a commute trip reduction target and develop a plan for how to achieve that target at the worksite(s). You can choose to implement the plan in one of the two ways described below. Whichever you choose, TriMet can help you implement it.

Prescriptive

File your commute trip reduction plan with DEQ for approval. Once approved, you implement the plan. DEQ considers your company to be in compliance with the rules as long as you submit and implement an approved plan—whether or not you fully achieve your trip reduction target.

Performance

If you choose this option, you don't file a plan with DEQ. Instead, your company implements a commute trip reduction program you think will work and monitors its progress by surveying employees. If your company is not able to meet its trip reduction target, you must demonstrate to DEQ that a "good faith effort" was made to do so. No evidence of "good faith effort" is needed if your company meets its trip reduction target.