Santa Barbara County officials think expanding commuter benefits could help retain county employees, and Sustainability Division staff briefed the Board of Supervisors on options Tuesday.
More than 900 county employees — about a quarter of the workforce — responded to a recent survey on commuting, and the results revealed that 74 percent of them drive alone to work.
The way employees travel to work is based on location, with the survey finding that lowest drive-alone rates are in downtown Santa Barbara (58 percent of respondents), where there is more alternative transportation.
The highest rates are among Santa Maria and Orcutt workers, who reported an 87 percent rate of driving alone to work, said Ashley Watkins, chief of the Sustainability Division, which is part of the Community Services Department.
Employees with the longest commutes are more likely to use public transit or carpool options, she said, and survey respondents reported wanting more flexibility for work schedules, reduced-cost transit passes and remote work options, including telework. Those are similar results to a 2006 survey, Watkins said.
County commuter benefits for employees now don’t have high participation, but include contributions for bus fares, earning vacation days by using qualifying alternative commute methods, emergency rides home and alternative work schedules.
Thirty-five percent of county employees are using an alternative work week schedule (working four 10-hour days, for example, instead of five eight-hour days) and flex hours, but there is not much teleworking.
The most southbound commuters (according to the 926 employees in the recent survey) are driving to Santa Barbara from Santa Maria, Lompoc and Goleta.
The most northbound county employee commuters are coming to Santa Barbara from Ventura and Oxnard, to Santa Maria from Lompoc, and to Santa Barbara from Carpinteria.
Supervisors asked county staff to come back with costs associated with expanding employer commuter benefits, and Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, the board chairman, also asked for a breakdown of employee retention numbers and the reasons people leave county employment.
“I think the point is we have a jobs-housing imbalance we all know about,” Supervisor Peter Adam said, adding that the county should take opportunities to put facilities, such as the new dispatch center, in the North County where a lot of the workforce lives.
Long-distance commuters, from Ventura County or Lompoc, are more likely to carpool or use bus and train services, while short-distance commuters are more likely to drive alone to work, according to the survey.
The survey also found that employees want their car at work so they can have a vehicle available in case of emergency, coordinate transportation for their children, and run errands before or after work.
“Addressing these concerns is a necessary part of having commuters feel comfortable enough to try other forms of transportation,” the county concluded.
Scroll down to read the summary of the September 2018 survey from the county and the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments’ Traffic Solutions.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
Santa Barbara County Employee Commute Survey Summary