With spring breakers back in town following the I-85 bridge collapse, Atlanta has perhaps never been more on edge about its daily commute. And with one of the city’s major arteries out of commission until mid-June, we have a whole lot of drivers looking at alternative ways to get to work.
The Georgia Department of Transportation, in the aftermath of the overpass fire, has said that they’ve seen a 50% increase in drivers looking for new ways to commute. Whether it’s MARTA, carpooling, biking or telecommuting, the GDOT wants Atlantans to pursue alternative commutes and is willing to offer up some very tangible incentives to do so.
The GAcommuter app offers up to $175 for Atlantans from one of the qualifying counties who download the app and log their trips taken using one of the GDOT’s ‘clean commute methods.’ Those options include carpools, vanpools, MARTA, biking, walking, telecommuting, and even just staggering their work schedule. The app and website provide a location-based carpool matching service and a way to log trips using the alternative means of getting to and from work.
With MARTA already seeing a huge uptick in ridership since the bridge collapse, the GDOT hopes that helping Atlantans find more new ways to commute will not only help the city while I-85 is snarled, but afterwards as well. After all when you’re ranked as having the 8th worst traffic in the world, you need all the help you can get.
