NYCDOT, Counties Grapple With Employee Commute Program

City and county agencies grappling with the recent Clean Air Act employer commute option (ECO) program filing deadline relate a swamp of confusing classification and information problems, jurisdictional questions and administrative nightmares.

New York City DOT's ECO office reported that about 2,000 businesses with 3,600 worksites have registered as ECO-liable. The office said over 2,000 plans were recently received. Due to logistical problems, the City does not yet have an accurate computer database ready to assess compliance

rates, and until the database is done, there will be no notifications of noncompliance sent out. Originally, 6,000 notices to register went out, but NYC ECO director David Ellis says the mailing was over-inclusive. Still, it is unclear that the City has the ability to track down large employers who

failed or refused to register at all.

Almost all of the 330 registered Westchester worksites have filed plans. Westchester DOT spokesperson Richard Kearns said only a handful of plans were still due (one being the Internal Revenue Service). Likewise in Orange County, all but one large employer has filed an ECO plan. An Orange

County official said most of the plans received there involved compressed work weeks.

In Long Island, according to Newsday, about half of 750 affected L.I. companies produced plans. Nassau and Suffolk county governments were late with their own plans. Suffolk county Transportation Director Gerald Cronin said the most recent calculation showed a 58% compliance rate.

Despite the low compliance rate, no fines will be levied since the county believes it does not have the power to do so.

The Star Ledger reported that the NJ DOT received 1850 plans -- about half of the 3,600 registered worksites -- by November 16th. A late filing fee of $100 would not be assessed until December 15th, since, according the Commissioner Frank Wilson, such a good faith effort on the part of NJ

employers was evident. Wilson also said he was considering changes suggested during a recent meeting with business executives to lend flexibility to employers' efforts to fulfill ECO commuter reduction goals.

In Fairfield County, Conn. DOT estimates that over 300 plans out of a field of about 425 liable employers have been received. A spokesperson said CT DOT was not in charge of assessing fines. Reports indicate that almost no disincentive or revenue-neutral parking pricing measures have been

implemented by area employers responsible under the ECO regulation. Responses ranged from flex time and telecommuting to preferential parking for carpools, new vanpool services and new employer subsidies for transit and paratransit use.