Several properties with Transportation Demand Management (TDM) programs managed by Wells + Associates have been recognized as 2022 Best Workplaces for Commuters and Best Sites for Commuters. This year, Wells + Associates is pleased to join these great BWC-designated properties as a Best Workplace for Commuters. Congratulations!
Seven of W+A’s clients earned the Best Site designation, which recognizes site-wide TDM programs that serve multiple tenants:
- Towers Crescent
- Tysons Corner Center, with related properties:
- Tysons Tower
- Hyatt Regency
- VITA
- Prosperity Metro Plaza
- Avenir Place
- Mosaic
To be nationally designated as one of the Best Workplaces for Commuters, these organizations and properties met the National Standard of Excellence in offering our employees exceptional commuter benefits. To receive the Best Workplaces for Commuters national designation, the organizations committed to providing at least five means of support to help employees leave their cars at home, including designating a central point of contact for employee commuter questions and providing an Emergency Ride Home program for employees.
All of the honorees met BWC’s National Standards of Excellence, which apply to both the Best Workplaces and Best Site designations. The standards stipulate that TDM programs provide one primary benefit, such as employer-paid transit passes or the ability to work from home, and at least three secondary benefits, such as shuttle service to transit stations or carpool matching.
Best Workplaces for Commuters (BWC) is a membership organization that operates out of the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida.
TOD Enhances the Tenant Transportation Experience for Developers and Properties
Throughout the first decade of the 2000s, transit-oriented development became increasingly popular, and the benefits of TDM were getting noticed by developers and properties beyond employers. Residential and Mixed-Use buildings as well as multi-tenant offices began establishing their own TDM programs to connect tenants to multimodal options that enhanced their tenants’ transportation experience coming to and from their sites. These buildings used TDM to not only make commuting more efficient and enjoyable, but to improve the ability for all kinds of visitors to access the site.
In 2011, the W+A TDM team saw this trend unfolding at the multi-tenant properties it supported and decided to partner with Fairfax County DOT to advocate that CUTR recognize these sites for their top-notch TDM programs. In 2012, the criteria for the new “Best Site” designation was officially established. That year, W+A submitted Towers Crescent and Access Tysons for consideration and both properties were honored on the first list of Best Sites for Commuters.
The fact that there was a need for a Best Sites designation is a testament to W+A’s commitment to being at the frontier of TDM. Creative place-making efforts at developments like these properties continue to advance Transportation Demand Management, making site-wide connectivity and multimodality the new standard.