Alameda County has declared October 2018 Share Your Ride Month after successfully sponsoring Share Your Ride Week last year. During October, the county encourages residents who commute alone to explore carpooling, vanpooling, and public transit. Share Your Ride Month is a great opportunity to investigate the many ways to make your commute greener for the planet, less expensive than solo driving, and less hazardous to your fellow residents.

Ridesharing helps the public as well as individuals because traffic congestion is more than just annoying; it is also a public health hazard. The air pollution generated by traffic congestion in the nation's largest urban areas contributes to more than 2,200 premature deaths annually, according to a 2011 study by Harvard School of Public Health researchers. It also costs the health system an estimated $18 billion every year.

Moreover, traffic congestion causes drivers to waste more than 3 billion gallons of fuel annually and keeps travelers stuck in their cars for nearly 42 extra hours per rush-hour commuter, according to the 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard report. The total national price tag for the wasted fuel and extra time adds up to $160 billion each year, or a whopping $960 per commuter.

"October is Share Your Ride Month! By encouraging employees to carpool, vanpool, or take public transit to get to work, school, or soccer practice, we can all help ease traffic congestion, improve air quality, and enhance our quality-of-life in Alameda County and throughout the Bay Area," says Tess Lengyel, Deputy Executive Director for Planning and Policy at the Alameda County Transportation Commission.

"This month-long public outreach and education effort is made possible through a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and is enabling a series of outreach activities at transportation hubs, universities, and large employers throughout Alameda County. For more information, visit 511.org."

Many who work or reside at Hacienda have been ridesharing for more than 30 years. Recently Hacienda added a new feature to its website that helps match Hacienda riders with rides. It allows employees and residents to share information about where they work, where they live, and their work schedules with other employees and residents to check for rideshare opportunities. To use the feature, simply log into your Hacienda account as both the new rideshare feature and Hacienda's long-established Special Offers for commuters requires a current and active Employee or Resident user account on the Hacienda website.

If you have not yet tried commuting to or from Hacienda via carpooling, vanpooling, or public transit, you may be surprised by the many options. During October Share Your Ride Month, consider trying the new Hacienda rideshare feature or one of the many Hacienda Commute Special Offers to see what type of planet- and budget-friendly commute choice works best for your commute needs.

Hacienda Special Offers for commuting include the free Wheels Eco Pass. This pass allows travel in and around the Tri-Valley for free at any time, as well as on the Interstate 680 express bus, shuttles to and from BART and the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) train station, and special school services.

Other commuting Special Offers include free rides on the ACE commuter rail system, BART to the East Dublin/Pleasanton station in Hacienda, County Connection buses in Contra Costa County, the MAX express bus from Modesto to Hacienda, and San Joaquin Regional Transit District transit services between San Joaquin County and Hacienda. They also include a discount for trying out the Scoop rideshare system.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the transportation planning, financing, and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, offers a rideshare match service at www.ridematch.511.org/SanFrancisco.

The County of Alameda also offers resources for commuters at commutechoices.alamedactc.org.

For more information about Hacienda's new rideshare feature, please visit www.hacienda.org/ho-connection/ho-cx-2018-hacienda-rideshare-system.

For more information about Hacienda commuter resources, please visit www.hacienda.org/amenities-employees-residents/commute-solutions.