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CAPITOL
Only 2 people per car required for state workers to reap car-pooling benefits
BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Bob Conner at 462-2499 or bconner@dailygazette.net.

    The state Office of General Services is trying to rev up its car-pooling program by making it easier to get in the pool.
    Now it will take just two people per car to qualify for benefits, as opposed to three under the previously existing program. That program only had 40 participants out of about 13,000 state workers in the vicinity of Empire State Plaza, said OGS spokesman Brad Maione. By close of business Wednesday, the first day to sign up for the new program, 80 new car-poolers had done so, Maione said.
    The program offers state employees cheaper parking permits at six Albany locations: Empire State Plaza Garage, East Parking Garage, Sheridan Hollow Garage, McCarty Avenue, 100 Broadway and Water Street. It is designed to save fuel, improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion and save participants money.
    OGS staffers including Commissioner John Egan were on hand Wednesday morning at the Empire State Plaza Concourse bus turnaround to promote the program. OGS staff will be in the lobby of the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building today and at the Department of Education on Friday to answer questions about the car-pooling program.
    Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Delmar, confessed that he drove in solo to appear at the morning event with Egan. But Breslin said OGS is right to encourage more car-pooling, helping people save money as well as alleviating traffic congestion and improving the environment.
    Applications for the program can be found on the OGS Web site. The parking price for a participant is about 75 percent less than what a single driver would pay — and, obviously, the passenger would pay nothing. On two days per month, carpoolers are permitted to bring in both of their vehicles to park. In emergencies, carpoolers can get a free ride home up to four times a year.
    Environmentalists were ambivalent but cautiously supportive of the program change. Rob Moore of Environmental Advocates in Albany said it was important to increase participation in the program, but ideally it would have been done while keeping three people in a car. “It’s never encouraging when you revise your goals downward,” he said.
    Andy Darrell, who runs the Living Cities Program at the New York City chapter of the Environmental Defense Fund, had much the same reaction as Moore. If the low number of people using the existing car-pooling program showed it wasn’t working, he said, then the change might be justified because, “The key is to figure out ways to increase participation.”
    Breslin said mass transit is part of the answer for Albany commuters. Bus ridership is up substantially from places such as Saratoga Springs, he said, which means more buses are needed so that people don’t have to stand to ride.