Supported by the CWRU Office of Energy & Sustainability, CWRU participated in the Commuter Challenge for the fifth time. Those winning awards were honored at the Sustainable Cleveland Summit in mid-October. Stephanie Corbett, CWRU Director of Energy & Sustainability, accepted CWRU’s Silver award for the University
The Commuter Challenge is organized by Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) along with RTA, Laketran, and Sustainable Cleveland.
The Commuter Choice Awards are used to recognize Northeast Ohio organizations that promote environmentally-friendly commuting options such as public transit, carpooling, bicycling, walking and telecommuting. CWRU wins points in the competition because of our many bike racks on campus (over 150!), telework options for staff, our numerous UH Bikes bike-share stations nearby or on campus, as well as free or reduced RTA passes for much of the campus community. Currently, the CWRU Office of Energy & Sustainability is working to apply for a Bike Friendly Campus designation which will boost our score even better next year.
Additionally, participating organizations are asked to encourage their employees to log their commute during the month of August on the GOhio Commute Portal. This year, only 26 people from CWRU participated but together they logged nearly 450 trips and saved $1,679.08 and 2,673.1 pounds of CO2.
In 2019, two groups won gold awards, three got silver and five were awarded bronze awards:
Gold awards went to Bike Cleveland and Century Cycles.
The Silver awards were earned by Univeristy Circle Inc, Ohio City Inc and CWRU.
Bronze awards were given to Ohio City Bicycle Co-Op, The Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Thompson Hine, LLC.