Building upon the 98 percent rate of valuable reuse already achieved by the company’s 2,200 Bridgestone Retail Operations stores nationwide, Bridgestone Americas is launching its One Team, One Planet Spent Tire Program, which is designed to eventually assure that for every tire Bridgestone Americas sells in the United States, one spent tire (a tire that has been removed from use) will be used for a valuable purpose. Currently, spent tires in the U.S. go to valuable end use at a rate of approximately 85 percent, according to the Rubber Manufacturers Association.

“At Bridgestone Americas we are working hard to help preserve our environment for future generations,” said Gary Garfield, CEO and President of Bridgestone Americas. “We view this program as a major part of our responsibility to do the right thing for the world around us.”

Bridgestone Americas has designed this initiative to be multi-faceted, with a program for its company-owned stores, a voluntary program for its extended network of affiliated retailers, and a community program that provides spent tire collection for neighborhood and river clean-up events.

“The purpose of this program is simple – to improve our environment by moving towards a waste-free tire industry where all spent tires are captured and sent to another valuable use,” said John Sheerin, Environmental Director for Bridgestone Retail Operations and program spokesperson. “It’s a lofty goal, but failure is not an option when it comes to ensuring the future health of our environment. And that’s why we’re not doing it alone. By working together with our affiliated retailers, community partners, academia, government entities and others in our industry, we can and will find even better solutions for our products at the end of their useful lives.”

The company has committed, by the end of 2012, that 100 percent of spent tires from its network of company-owned stores in the United States will be sent to valuable use at end of life. This includes all Firestone Complete Auto Care, Tires Plus®, Wheel Works and ExpertTire® locations. Starting in 2013, the company will launch a voluntary program for its Bridgestone Affiliated Retailer Nationwide Network, which will encourage the company’s sales partners to also strive towards zero waste of spent tires at their stores.

The community clean-up support program, which begins immediately, includes a new partnership with River Network. The Portland-based nonprofit leads a national watershed protection movement that includes more than 2,000 local, state and regional grassroots organizations whose primary mission is to protect rivers and watersheds. Bridgestone America’s new community clean-up support program will recycle any spent tires collected during any River Network or other independently organized clean-up event – free of charge. Event organizers can request tire recycling support by filling out the form available at www.OneTeamOnePlanet.com/Americas.

Sheerin continued, “It is our goal to make tires found in our natural environment a thing of the past and no longer the poster child of trash. We are all part of One Team, One Planet, and together we will make a difference – one tire at a time.”

One Team, One Planet. is the umbrella program for all of Bridgestone Corporation’s environmental activities. Bridgestone’s environmental mission is “To help ensure a healthy environment for current and future generations.” In 2011, the company revamped its environmental mission statement to better support its global environmental activities by including the company’s three major objectives: Being in harmony with nature, Valuing natural resources and Reducing CO2 emissions. The One Team, One Planet Spent Tire Program is designed to encompass each of these goals in some way.

Learn more about River Network and its river restoration efforts at www.RiverNetwork.org.

TRENTON, NJ – A new report released by the NJPIRG Law and Policy Center demonstrates that Americans have been driving less since the middle of last decade. The report, Transportation and the New Generation: Why Young People are Driving Less and What it Means for Transportation Policy, shows that young people in particular are decreasing the amount they drive and increasing their use of transportation alternatives.

“For the first time in two generations, there has been a significant shift in how many miles Americans are driving each year,” said Gideon Weissman, NJPIRG Program Associate. “America needs to understand these trends when deciding how to focus our future transportation investments, especially when transportation dollars are so scarce. In New Jersey, moving forward with new transit projects like the Gateway Tunnel is a good response.”

Transportation and the New Generation reveals that for the first time since World War II, Americans are driving less and have been doing so since the middle of last decade. The report shows that by 2011, the average American was driving 6 percent fewer miles per year than in 2004. The average vehicle miles traveled per year by New Jersey residents fell by 461 miles between 2007 and 2010.

“Clearly, more Americans are demanding walkable, compact communities that offer a variety of transportation options,” said Janna Chernetz, New Jersey Advocate for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “This is good news for our economy and environment but means New Jersey’s funding for transit, biking and walking projects must keep pace with rising demand.”

“The newest numbers from the Census Bureau confirm that a greater number, and a larger share, of New Jersey commuters are relying on transit ,” said Dan Fatton, Outreach and Development Director with New Jersey Future. “Additionally, employers are finding that they need to be in a transit-friendly location in order to attract top talent , especially among the Millennial generation. These and other data reinforce the need for New Jersey to provide a robust and accessible transit network if we are to stay economically competitive.”

This trend away from driving is even more pronounced among young people. The average young person (age 16-34) drove 23 percent fewer miles in 2009 than the average young person in 2001. The report also notes that a growing number of young Americans do not have driver’s licenses; from 2000 to 2010, the share of 14 to 34-year-olds without a license increased from 21 percent to 26 percent.

According to the report, between 2001 and 2009, the annual number of miles traveled by 16 to 34 year olds on public transit such as trains and buses increased by 40 percent.

“I take the train to school six days a week, because I know it’s the greener option, and besides – I don’t even have a driver’s license. I know that lots of my classmates do the same thing,” said Katie Nuber, a senior at Rutgers Newark and intern with the NJPIRG Student Chapters. “New Jersey is taking mass transit more than ever before, and our leaders need to start figuring out how to build the modern transportation infrastructure that my generation will need for the future.”

“The shift away from six decades of increasing vehicle travel to a new reality of slow-growing or even declining vehicle travel has potentially seismic implications for transportation policy,” says Benjamin Davis, co-author of the report and an analyst with the Frontier Group. “It calls into question the wisdom of our current transportation investment priorities.”

“New Jersey’s transportation preferences appear to be changing. Our elected officials need to make transportation decisions based on the real needs of New Jersey in the 21st century,” concluded Weissman.

The report can be downloaded here: http://njpirgcenter.org/reports/njf/transportation-and-new-generation.

Ann Arbor-to-Detroit commuters using vanpool service to cut travel costs by thousands

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has contracted with VPSI, Inc. to offer MichiVan commuter vanpools throughout most of the state since 1980.

The MichiVan Commuter Vanpool Program's 400th vanpool was delivered on March 12, 2012, to the U.S. Army's Detroit Arsenal in Warren. Employees there enjoy hassle-free vanpooling, with 133 vanpools already in service.

Vanpooling with MichiVan is a cost-effective alternative for commuters who enjoy the convenience of sharing a ride to work together in a friendly environment. Vanpoolers arrive at work safe, on time and relaxed. There are currently about 3,000 riders statewide. Approximately 131,000 commuter trips are taken each month. It is estimated that about 216,000 gallons of fuel are saved each month.

MichiVan offers several styles of fully insured vans, accommodating groups of five to 15 passengers. Riders pay a monthly fee plus the cost of fuel, with one person volunteering to be the primary driver of the van. The driver rides for free.

For more details about vanpooling and a video about ridesharing, go to the MDOT Web site at www.michigan.gov/micommute.

VPSI continues to work with the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) and its members to restore parity in the qualified transportation fringe benefit between transit/vanpool fares and parking. Efforts to include parity as a part of the recently enacted payroll tax cut were unsuccessful, as Congress only included those items that they extended in December, ie. the Social Security withholding rate reduction and issues in Medicare payments and unemployment benefits.

However, the provision for parity has been included in the funding language for the Senate’s version of the transportation bill and has been introduced in multiple amendments for the House’s version of the same bill. While it is still too early to tell whether or not this provision will be included in the final language that Congress submits to the President for signature, we are encouraged that discussions are continuing to return parity to this benefit. We encourage all of our customers who are interested in following this legislation to continue to check out the coalition website at www.commuterbenefitsworkforus.com.

Enter VPSI and the commuter vanpool program sponsored by Transportation and Parking Services at Princeton University. Greg heard about the program from the University’s program coordinator, Andrea DeRose, and was immediately on a mission to recruit enough members to be eligible for the program. Assembling a group of employees from Philadelphia and lower Bucks County, Greg began vanpooling to work, allowing his family to donate the VW and another old vehicle to Purple Heart, while letting his son drive the new truck. “The first year, I saved over $3,500 in gas. Just before the second year, my wife and I were able to send in the last payment for my daughter’s college!”

Transportation and Parking Services promotes the program by providing financial support, a preferred parking spot and a guaranteed ride home in case of emergency. This is important for Greg, who is also a volunteer fireman. “If I’m at a fire call, which requires me to stay late, I need not worry. They will be there for me.”

As a former US Marine Infantryman, Greg has traveled many portions of the globe, including many places where transportation meant carrying a heavy pack on foot across difficult terrain. With vanpooling, however, he’s found a way to lighten the load of his commute. Greg still discusses problems with members of his vanpool, but nowadays they mostly revolve around the misery caused by being a Philadelphia Eagles fan. But as for the commute, vanpooling has really eased some of financial pressures of a few years ago. “Without VPSI and the University’s Transportation and Parking Services, life in general would be a lot more difficult. There is not a day that goes by that I do not say to myself, ‘Man. I really lucked out on this one.’”

Mr. Martz, who recently testified at a hearing of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on “Improving and Reforming the Nation’s Surface Transportation Programs,” provided information on a range of topics to address the Chairman’s interest in commuter vanpooling and VPSI’s national role as a private provider of public transportation.

Chairman Duncan’s subcommittee has jurisdiction over our nation’s highway, transit, and highway safety programs, as well as the policy that governs how highway and transit projects are planned, approved, and constructed. He will be a key architect in this Congress of the multi-year federal highway and transit spending legislation, which was introduced in the first week of February 2012.

Some of Chairman Duncan’s priorities for the legislative measure include the streamlining and reform of the federal transportation programs, expediting the project approval process, maximizing the leveraging of limited financial resources, providing flexibility for states, and ensuring long-term funding stability for states to plan major infrastructure improvements.