Boulder company poised to capitalize on state’s new rules
Commuter data company Commutifi seems perfectly positioned to help large Colorado companies navigate new rules being set by the state’s health department to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from employee commuters.
The Boulder-based company has already developed an online calculator businesses can use to see if they would comply with the Employee Trip Reduction Program rules being implemented for large companies by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Air Quality Control Commission.
COVER STORY: CHARGING AHEAD | What must Colorado do to get nearly a million electric vehicles on the road by 2030?
“There’s a lot of fear of the unknown, because this looks daunting to many companies,” said CEO and Co-Founder Rich Schmelzer in an interview with the Denver Gazette.
Schmelzer, and everyone else at Commutifi, live for data. After years of research and development, the company developed “the standard for commuter scoring and transportation demand management data automation.”
Translation: Commutifi works with employers, building owners and municipalities to collect data on commuting habits of workers. It manipulates, or “normalizes,” the data to show where there’s a waste of time, excessive costs or increased carbon emissions.
“We normalize the data so the employer can understand the impact of a program or practice,” Schmelzer said. “We love helping people understand why things won’t work, or why things are the way they are. … It makes a company not spend money on services that won’t get used.”
Company officials have been working with the commission to provide input on the new rules, which will require companies with more than 100 employees to survey them and regularly report back to the state commuting information. Officials built its technology platform to “simplify and automate the compliance process.”
“The platform will evolve as the (rule) language evolves,” he said.
Governor signs $5.4 billion transportation bill backed by new fees
Free services allow companies to register, distribute and manage surveys and explore alternative commuting strategies to “meet compliance thresholds.” Higher tiers of service bring associated costs.
“A lot of companies in the system are already in compliance,” Schmelzer said. “Overall, it’s not that heavy of a lift.”
Commutifi’s online calculator is at etrp.co.