Jun 29, 2008 4:10 pm US/Mountain
Program Offers $100 To Not Drive During Convention
DENVER (CBS4) ―
The Democratic National Convention will bring business, excitement and presumably lots of traffic to downtown Denver. The Downtown Denver Partnership wants people to use mass transit instead of driving, and they'll pay some people to do it.
At least a 1,000 people who sign up for a special program could get $100 for just keeping their cars out of downtown and taking the bus or train instead.
"You have to work in downtown, you have to drive by yourself and you have to be willing to make the switch," Sarah McClean with Downtown Denver Partnership said.
The Downtown Denver Partnership is getting ready to spend a federal grant on promoting alternative transportation. That means they want drivers to get out of their cars and take the bus, train, or just ride a bike during the month of August. Those who can do it for at least 15 days might get $100.
"You have to work in the downtown area, in the 80202 zip code," McClean said. "Then you need to apply for the program, and if you are accepted, you are required to go online and fill out a travel log every 72 hours. And upon completion of that travel log, if you have in fact taken 15 days of alternative transit, then you'll receive a 100 dollar Visa gift card in the mail."
The campaign is inspired by the Democratic National Convention's push to be green. There's enough money to pay off about 1,000 commuters.
While it's more about raising awareness than actually reducing congestion, the hope is some people will stick with it after trying public transportation.
To sign up and find out more, go to
downtowndenver.com and click the link to get downtown unconventionally.
There's even some incentive for people who already use public transportation. They can sign up, log their time and possibly win a drawing for a gift card. All of this of course is done on the honor system.
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